For the first time in 50 years, you can eat some of the fish you catch in the lower Hudson River. State officials said this week that levels of a cancer-causing chemical in the river are declining.
This now begs the question: Would you eat fish you caught in the Hudson?
The New York State Department of Health announced that levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in the Hudson River between Catskill and New York City are safe enough for anglers to eat certain fish they catch in the river.
Alyssa Domini said Hudson River fish would not be her first seafood choice, "but if push came to shove and I was starving, I'm going to eat what I catch."
For about 30 years, General Electric used PCBs to cool and preserve equipment at facilities in Hudson Falls and Fort Edward, and then dumped them in the river.
An estimated 1.3 million pounds of the substance ended up in the river, polluting a 200-mile stretch.
The DOH now advises that PCB levels in the water and the fish are now low enough for people to safely eat bullhead, white perch, rainbow smelt and others once a month.
Yellow perch, striped bass and blue crab from the river can safely be consumed once a week, the DOH said.
Most northern Westchester County residents who spoke with News 12 for this story are still skeptical despite several river decontamination and dredging projects. Several mentioned nearby energy facilities, defunct and active.
"I'd be wary of it because Indian Point is right here," Charles Flood, of Westchester, said. "I don't have the greatest confidence. I'd be very cautious."
The Indian Point Nuclear Energy Plant in Buchanan still has radioactive materials on site in storage tanks.
Brian Thomas, an employee of an active waste-to-energy facility that burns non-recyclable materials to create energy, said several plants along the river deal with harmful chemicals. For that reason, he will pass on consuming fish from the river.
"It's cadmium and inorganic arsenic," he said of the substances he deals with. "It's right on the shoreline of this river, so I wouldn't eat anything out of here."
Anyone who does decide to eat fish from the Hudson should cut off the skin and fat, the DOH said, which would remove about half the PCBs in the fish.
The DOH said children and those in other sensitive groups should follow separate guidelines that advise less frequent consumption of fish from the river.
