The Wantagh-Seaford area is home to some of Nassau County’s premier freshwater fishing spots. Unfortunately, a new study claims that eating one serving of fish from these lakes and ponds could be the health equivalent of drinking contaminated water for an entire month.
Local sites include Twin Lakes Preserve, Mill Pond, and Forest City Park Pond. Slightly to the east is Lake Massapequa. For anglers willing to make the short drive, Hempstead Lake State Park isn’t far either.
Many of these lakes have a naturally reproducing population of fish such as bass, bluefish, walleye, catfish, eels and catfish. Also, some of them, like Upper Twin Pond, are stocked with trout by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in the spring and fall to give anglers something extra.
Although it is illegal to keep largemouth bass in Nassau County, no such restrictions exist for other species.
The health risks of eating fish from local lakes were already known. The state Department of Health has an advisory on its website warning of the chemical chlordane in fish. For all the lakes mentioned, children under 15 and women under 50 are advised not to eat any of the fish. For all other age groups, the department recommends a limit of four meals a month.
But these already risky fish to eat are even more dangerous than these current recommendations.
ScienceDirect published a seven-year study that claimed freshwater fish across the country are heavily contaminated with per- and polyfluorinated substances, also known as PFAs, and chemicals “potentially forever.”
PFAs are used in jet fuel, firefighting foam, industrial discharge, and certain household products. Because of this use, they have infiltrated the water supply and contaminated fish over a period of many years. Across rivers and streams across the country, the average PFA level was 9,500 nanograms per kilogram. It was even higher in the Great Lakes, at 11,800 nanograms per kilogram.
Numerous studies have linked PFAs to cancer in humans.
For Wantagh-Seaford freshwater ponds, this study adds to the state’s pre-existing warnings about chemicals hazardous to fish.
Many catches in local waters can be seen on social media such as Fishbrain and Facebook. A quick glance indicates that most anglers practice catch and release, but many posts on the “Long Island Bass Anglers” Facebook group talk about the “bucket brigades” hitting local waters. According to these publications, bucket brigades are large groups of fishermen who show up with buckets and keep everything they catch, disregarding rules such as trout stocking limits and the illegality of keeping bass.