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REEL IT IN! BROOKLYN Fish Consumption Education Project in Brooklyn ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: This research and outreach project was developed by Going Coastal, Inc. Team members included Gabriel Rand, Zhennya Slootskin and Barbara La Rocco. Volunteers were vital to the execution of the project at every stage, including volunteers from Pace University’s Center for Community Action and Research, volunteer translators Inessa Slootskin, Annie Hongjuan and Bella Moharreri, and video producer Dave Roberts. We acknowledge support from Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and funding from an Environmental Justice Research Impact Grant of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Photos by Zhennya Slootskin, Project Coordinator. Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Study Area 3. Background 4. Methods 5. Results & Discussion 6. Conclusions 7. Outreach Appendix A: Survey List of Acronyms: CSO Combined Sewer Overflow DEC New York State Department of Environmental Conservation DEP New York City Department of Environmental Protection DOH New York State Department of Health DPR New York City Department of Parks & Recreation EPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency GNRA Gateway National Recreation Area NOAA National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency OPRHP New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation PCBs Polychlorinated biphenyls WIC Women, Infant and Children program Reel It In Brooklyn: Fish Consumption Education Project Page 2 of 68 Abstract Brooklyn is one of America’s largest and fastest growing multi‐ethnic coastal counties. All fish caught in the waters of New York Harbor are on mercury advisory. Brooklyn caught fish also contain PCBs, pesticides, heavy metals, many more contaminants. The waters surrounding Brooklyn serve as a source of recreation, transportation and, for some, food. The purpose of this project was to find out who is fishing and what is being caught and eaten along the shores of Brooklyn in order to reduce the consumption of contaminated fish and lessen potential health problems among the local subsistence and recreational fishing population. Our study intended to shed light on the relationship between Brooklyn fishers, the polluted waterfront environment and government created fish consumption advisories. The research provided a springboard for the development of a comprehensive outreach and educational program targeting both fishers and the community at large that empowers them to alter fish consumption habits in a way that minimizes the consumption of potentially contaminated fish, while promoting the benefits of healthy choices and family‐based outdoor recreational opportunities on the Brooklyn waterfront. Reel It In Brooklyn: Fish Consumption Education Project Page 3 of 68 INTRODUCTION Figure 1: Sheepshead Bay On clear days, fishers line the reachable waterfront and fishing piers of Brooklyn casting lines into the brackish current that the tides carry twice a day up the Hudson River then draining into New York Harbor. Men, and occasionally women, collect regularly at familiar fishing spots to relax, converse and patiently wait for a fish to bite. Most are enjoying a reprieve from urban living while some are fishing for dinner. At a popular fishing pier on Coney Island, public health advisory signs posted by the NYC DPR and the NYC DOH caution that “some fish caught in New York City waters may be harmful to eat.” Despite the warning, anglers continue to fish and continue to consume the fish they catch from these waters. The sign doesn’t elaborate as to why the fish might be harmful to eat. According the New York State DOH’s 2008‐2009 Health Advisories, several species of fish and crabs found in the coastal waters around Brooklyn, New York are likely to be contaminated with PCB’s, cadmium and/or dioxins ("Chemicals in Sportfish and Game", 2008). These chemicals are products, inputs, and byproducts, respectively, of industrial processes, and have been shown Reel It In Brooklyn: Fish Consumption Education Project Page 4 of 68 Figure 2: Fish Consumption Advisory Signage at elevated levels to negatively affect human health. PCB’s can impair nervous system development and cognitive functions. In a review of several epidemiological studies, Burger and Gochfeld (Burger & Gochfeld) show the causal relationship between pregnant women Reel It In Brooklyn: Fish Consumption Education Project Page 5 of 68 consuming fish contaminated with PCBs and the subsequent deficits in the neurobehavioral development of their children. Dioxins have been associated with changes in reproductive hormone levels, and long term exposure to cadmium can negatively affect kidneys, bones, and blood. NOAA has identified the coastal waters of the greater New York City metropolitan area as having some of the highest organic and heavy metal sediment levels in the country (Krishna, Klein, Jones, & Clersceri, 1995), and so it is probable that existing fish consumption advisories will continue be in place for years to come. Women of childbearing age and small children are particularly sensitive to the contaminants found in locally caught fish. New York State advisories are in effect to limit the human consumption of potentially contaminated fish (if not specified otherwise, ‘fish’ refers to fish and crabs). Fish from more than 130 water bodies in New York have specific advisories. For these listed waters, DOH recommends either limiting or not eating a specific kind of fish. A number of studies that will be reviewed in the following section have shown that despite these advisories, many anglers and their families continue to consume potentially contaminated fish over the advisable limit. These studies conclude that agency‐produced advisories are somewhat ineffective; anglers believe their local catch is safe to eat either because they are unaware of the advisories or they simply do not believe in their validity. In addition to society’s general health concerns for all anglers and their families, consumption of contaminated fish also appears to be in particular, an environmental justice issue. According to the US EPA, “environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” Contaminated fish consumption was identified as an environmental justice area of concern in the Executive Order: Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low‐Income Populations (1994). What previous studies in the field have found is that ethnic minority and low‐income anglers tend to consume more contaminated fish and are less aware of the consequent risks than higher‐income, White anglers. In addition, lower‐ Reel It In Brooklyn: Fish Consumption Education Project Page 6 of 68 income groups and minority groups are generally exposed to greater amounts of contaminants from multiple pathways (air, water, food) than others. The purpose of this project was to find out who is fishing and what is being caught and eaten along the shores of Brooklyn in order to reduce the consumption of contaminated fish caught and lessen potential health problems among the local subsistence and recreational fishing population. The project looked at communities of anglers to see how they perceived and understood fish consumption advisories, their knowledge of the local environment, and how to engage anglers in formulating advisory communication improvements. We sought to explore the following questions: 1. In what ways the local fish population is rendered inedible by contaminants? 2. Are anglers catching and consuming potentially contaminated fish? 3. Is consumption of locally caught fish in the waters surrounding Brooklyn an environmental justice issue? 4. How do anglers interpret and respond to advisories? 5. How to identify and implement interventions for communicating fish consumption risks to anglers, their families and local communities? Using these questions to guide our research, we examined existing literature about advisories, surveyed fishers on the Brooklyn coast, reviewed fish consumption advisory communications, and, in the end, developed a multi‐communication outreach and education program ensuring that advisories are accessible to both the maximum number of fishers and families as well as the community at large in order to reach Brooklyn’s most vulnerable populations. Reel It In Brooklyn: Fish Consumption Education Project Page 7 of 68 LITERATURE REVIEW We have reviewed the existing literature on angling practices in locations that have fishing advisories; in particular, focusing on anglers in urban environments. The first question addressed is whether anglers and their families are consuming potentially contaminated fish over the advisable limit, for it is possible that anglers are not eating the fish and that catch‐and‐ release practices are widespread. In a 2001 study, Ramos and Crain (Ramos & Crain, 2001) interviewed 160 anglers from several fishing spots in Manhattan, and they found that 65% of the respondents consumed more than the recommended limit of one locally caught fish meal per month. To raise additional concern, 20% of the anglers responded that they had children under the age of 15 who consumed more than one locally caught fish meal per month (according to the NY State fish advisories, women of childbearing age and children under the age of 15 should eat no fish from any species in the waters surrounding