Fish Caught In Kansas May Be Unhealthy

Kansas officials are warning people not to eat too much fish caught in the state.

They have issued revised official fish consumption advisories for 2013 because locally-caught fish may be contaminated by environmental pollutants.

Children and pregnant-or-nursing women are advised to eat fish caught anywhere in Kansas no more than once a week.  They should limit bass consumption to once a month, due to mercury contamination.  Everyone else should eat bass no more than once a week. 

State health officials advise against eating any catfish, carp, and other bottom-feeding species from the Kansas River between Bowersock Dam, in Lawrence and the confluence of the Wakarusa River at Eudora.  That’s because of PCB contamination.  The same concern applies to the Arkansas River, from the Lincoln Street Bridge, in Wichita, downstream to Belle Plaine. 

Mercury is considered a problem in all fish statewide.