Maine CDC recommends not eating fish from these dangerous waters

Maine residents love fishing.

No question. But in recent years it has become increasingly difficult to eat what we catch. Not because of the over-fishing or size restrictions, but because of harmful things in the WaterFor example, we are constantly warned about mercury Values ​​in our freshwater fish.

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The CDC generally recommends that young Children and pregnant Women should not eat freshwater fish in Maineand that healthy adults should only do so once a month. But by now we’re pretty aware of that warning and probably mostly follow suit. But now, depending on where you are, there’s even more reason to worry.

Now we are being warned not only about mercury, but also about PFAS.

This does not affect everyone, nationwide. You especially need to worry if you are in southern Maine, especially in areas near the old Brunswick Naval Air Station. Accordingly WABIThere was a recent large spill of fire retardant foam, and many nearby bodies of water have high levels of PFAS.

PFAS, known to most as “forever chemicals,” were definitely present in the spilled foam, but this warning doesn’t have much to do with that, and the Maine CDC probably would have released the information anyway. But with so much attention being given to this area, it seemed more important to get the information out as quickly as possible.

Which waters are most affected?

The worst currently appears to be Picnic Pond, Site 8 Stream, and Merriconeag Stream. The CDC advises against eating fish at all in these locations. Additionally, people should be aware of the problems at Mere Brook on the east side of the runway and severely limit fishing on the west side of Mere Brook.

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In these areas, people should limit their meals from there to no more than 6 Meals per year. Not to mention that there is still foam floating around in some of these places. With that in mind, they even say you shouldn’t swim there. It’s all gross for sure. Let’s hope more can be done to make things safe again.