Draft Safe Eating Guidelines for Fish and Shellfish
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HEALTH ADVISORY: DRAFT SAFE EATING GUIDELINES FOR FISH AND SHELLFISH FROM THE SAN JOAQUIN RIVER AND SOUTH DELTA (CONTRA COSTA, SAN JOAQUIN, STANISLAUS, MERCED, MADERA, AND FRESNO COUNTIES) January 2007 Arnold Schwarzenegger Governor State of California Linda S. Adams Agency Secretary California Environmental Protection Agency Joan E. Denton, Ph.D. Director Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment San Joaquin Pre-release Draft i January 2007 DRAFT SAFE EATING GUIDELINES FOR FISH AND SHELLFISH FROM THE SAN JOAQUIN RIVER AND SOUTH DELTA (CONTRA COSTA, SAN JOAQUIN, STANISLAUS, MERCED, MADERA, AND FRESNO COUNTIES) January 2007 Margy Gassel, Ph.D. Robert K. Brodberg, Ph.D. Susan Klasing, Ph.D. Sue Roberts, M.S. Pesticide and Environmental Toxicology Branch Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment California Environmental Protection Agency San Joaquin Pre-release Draft ii January 2007 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Reviewers Anna Fan, Ph.D. George Alexeeff, Ph.D. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to acknowledge staff at the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, especially Michelle Wood, for coordinating and providing data. We acknowledge Shaun M. Ayers, Ph.D. and Darell G. Slotton, Ph.D., for providing data and technical information for studies conducted at the University of California at Davis. We appreciate the State Water Resources Control Board for providing useful data through the Toxic Substances Monitoring Program and the Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program. Additionally, we thank Jay Davis, Ph.D., Ben Greenfield, and Jennifer Hunt of the San Francisco Estuary Institute for providing data through the California Bay Delta Authority Mercury Project and California Bay Delta Authority Fish Mercury Project. Funding from the California Bay Delta authority for the Fish Mercury Project was instrumental in providing data and support for this evaluation. San Joaquin Pre-release Draft i January 2007 FOREWORD This draft report provides guidelines for consumption of various fish and shellfish species taken from water bodies in the San Joaquin watershed in Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, and Fresno Counties. These draft guidelines were developed as a result of studies of mercury concentrations in fish tested from these water bodies, and are provided to fish consumers to assist them in making choices about the types of fish and frequency of consumption considered safe to eat. Some fish tested from these water bodies showed high mercury levels, and draft guidelines are provided to protect against possible adverse health effects from methylmercury as consumed from mercury-contaminated fish. Limited data for chlorinated hydrocarbons were also considered to determine whether consumption advice more restrictive than that for mercury was warranted. Additionally, the draft guidelines provide information to aid consumers in selecting fish that are lower in mercury or other contaminants. This draft report provides background information and a description of the data and criteria used to develop the draft guidelines. The draft guidelines will be revised as appropriate, following public review, and published in a final report containing the final state advisory. For further information, contact: Pesticide and Environmental Toxicology Branch Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment California Environmental Protection Agency 1515 Clay Street, 16th Floor Oakland, California 94612 Telephone: (510) 622-3170 OR: Pesticide and Environmental Toxicology Branch Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment California Environmental Protection Agency 1001 I Street, P.O. Box 4010 Sacramento, California 95812-4010 Telephone: (916) 327-7319 San Joaquin Pre-release Draft ii January 2007 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS .............................................................................................................. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................................................ i FOREWORD .....................................................................................................................................ii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................... 1 SAN JOAQUIN RIVER AND DELTA SPORT FISH ..................................................................... 9 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 10 BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................. 11 METHYLMERCURY TOXICOLOGY.......................................................................................... 16 DERIVATION OF REFERENCE DOSES FOR METHYLMERCURY....................................... 18 MERCURY LEVELS IN FISH AND SHELLFISH FROM THE SAN JOAQUIN RIVER AND SOUTH DELTA .............................................................................................................................. 21 OTHER CONTAMINANTS IN FISH AND SHELLFISH FROM THE SAN JOAQUIN RIVER AND SOUTH DELTA .................................................................................................................... 24 GUIDELINES FOR FISH CONSUMPTION FOR THE SAN JOAQUIN RIVER AND SOUTH DELTA ............................................................................................................................................ 26 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER SAMPLING ............................................................... 37 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................ 38 Table 1. List of Sampling Sites and Combined Locations.............................................................. 46 Table 2. Legal and/or Edible Size Criteria for Sampling Fish and Shellfish Species ................... 49 Table 3. Descriptive Statistics for Mercury Concentrations and Length for Legal and/or Edible- sized Fish from the San Joaquin River and South Delta by Subregion ........................................... 50 Table 4. Mean Mercury Concentrations and Sample Sizes for Select Species from the San Joaquin River and South Delta that are Consistent across Subregions ......................................................... 53 Table 5. Mean Mercury Concentrations and Sample Sizes for Species from the San Joaquin River and South Delta that Vary by Subregion ......................................................................................... 54 Table 6. Statistical Comparison of Mean Mercury Concentrations in Largemouth Bass .............. 55 Table 7. Statistical Comparison of Mean Mercury Concentrations in White Catfish across Subregions........................................................................................................................................ 57 Table 8. Statistical Comparison of Mean Mercury Concentrations in Channel Catfish across Subregions........................................................................................................................................ 58 Table 9. Comparison of Mercury Concentrations in Largemouth Bass, Channel Catfish, and White Catfish from River and Non-river Sampling Sites in the San Joaquin Delta Subregion ................. 59 Table 10. Higher PCB Concentrations in Fish Collected near the Port of Stockton and Smith Canal/Louis Park.............................................................................................................................. 62 Table 11. Sample Sites in the San Joaquin River and South Delta with Low Concentrations of PCBs ................................................................................................................................................ 64 Table 12: Guidance Tissue Levels (Mercury or Methylmercury) for Two Population Groups ..... 65 Figure 1. Map of All Sampling Locations ...................................................................................... 67 Figure 2. Map of Sampling Locations in the South Delta .............................................................. 68 Figure 3. Map of Sampling Locations on the San Joaquin River South of the Delta..................... 69 Figure 4. Map of Mercury and Gold Mines in the Vicinity of the San Joaquin Delta ................... 70 Figure 5. Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Eight Subareas........................................................ 71 Figure 6. Comparison of Mean Mercury Concentrations in Largemouth Bass across Subregions 72 Figure 7. Comparison of Mean Mercury Concentrations in White Catfish and Channel Catfish across Subregions............................................................................................................................. 73 Figure 8. Map Distinguishing the San Joaquin River Region from the South Delta Region ......... 74 San Joaquin Pre-release Draft iii January 2007 Figure 9: Map of Sample Sites near the Port of Stockton............................................................... 75 Appendix I: Methylmercury in Sport Fish: Information for Fish Consumers............................... 76 Appendix II. General Advice for Sport Fish Consumption ............................................................ 80 Appendix III: San Joaquin River and South Delta Advisory Data File Comments........................ 82 Appendix IV: Case Summaries for Fish and Shellfish Samples....................................................