Eating Striped Bass From The Hudson: Your Age, Gender, Location Matter

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOT) says that deciding whether or not a Hudson River fish is safe to eat is more complicated than we might expect.

It turns out a few rules of thumb many fishermen rely on might not tell the whole story, especially when it comes to striped bass.

Striped bass are one of the most prized fish in the Hudson River. According to the NYSDOH, most anglers consider striped bass to be an "ocean fish," visiting the Hudson River only for their spring spawning run, which is why they might think this type of fish is not as contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), compared to other Hudson River fish.

However, it turns out that some striped bass stay in the Hudson, especially between Troy and Catskill for longer than the spawning season, and tend to have three to four times the levels of PCBs found south of Catskill. In fact, researchers who tagged striped bass found a "resident population" who stay in the Hudson River year-round. This means you can't possibly know which type of striped bass you catch might be.

In striped bass sampled in the Hudson River at Troy and Catskill between 2007 and 2015:

• 85-100 percent of the the fish caught in Troy in the fall exceeded 1 ppm (part per million) of PCBs.
• 30-50 percent of the fish caught in Troy in the spring exceeded 1 ppm of PCBs.
• 3-21 percent of the fish caught in Catskill in the spring exceeded 1 ppm of PCBs.

Therefore, the NYSDOH advises no one should eat striped bass caught between Troy and Catskill. Catch and release fishing should be considered in this area.

The NYSDOH says that women under 50 and children under 15 should not eat any fish from anywhere in the Hudson River, including striped bass. Women who eat highly contaminated fish and become pregnant may have an increased risk of having children who are slower to develop and learn. Some contaminants may also be passed on to infants through breast milk. Exposure to contaminants may also have a greater effect on young children than adults.

If you are fishing between Catskill and the Battery in NYC, the NYSDOH says that men over 15 and women over 50 can eat up to one, half-pound meal per month of striped bass.

The DOH offers the following tips to reduce the amount of PCBs in fish:

• Remove the skin and trim all the fat from the belly flap, the dark line along the sides, and the fat along the back and under the skin.
• Cooking or soaking fish cannot eliminate the contaminants, but heat from cooking melts some of the fat in fish and allows some of the contaminated fat to drip away.
• Broil, grill or bake the trimmed, skinned fish on a rack so that the fat drips away. Do not use drippings to prepare sauces or gravies.

More details on striped bass in the Hudson can be found here.

An advisory chart detailing the bodies of water, type of fish, type of population, and chemicals of concern can be found here.