Fishing in Flushing Bay: Be careful what you catch
Photo:Michael Ratliff
A fisherman catches a bass in Flushing Bay
By Michael Ratliff December 21, 2009
The fishermen of Flushing Bay catch striped bass for dinner. They hook turtles and net crabs. And they also nab sewage, pesticides, bacteria and industrial waste.
The city signs clearly state that the water is unclean, yet that doesn’t stop the dozens of men who descend the rocky banks in search of food. There they trawl in the shadow of La Guardia Airport for a free meal that might make them sick.
When a reporter tried to point out the risks one afternoon, the warning was met by blank stares among the group of Asian and Hispanic men, and an apologetic “No English.”
That, scientists say, is worrisome.
“I hope they don’t eat what they catch,” said Timothy Eaton, a Queens College professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences. “It would not be really good for their long-term health.”
He explained that aquatic life, particularly fish at the top of the food chain, absorb all manner of harmful material that collects in this bay. Such delights include PCB pollutants, oil, industrial filth and automotive parts that migrated from nearby Willets Point.
Then there is the untreated raw sewage that has flowed into the bay since the 1880s. As recently as 1998, 3 million gallons of untreated human waste entered City waterways per day, according to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Today, 14 discharge points, known as combined sewage overflows, dot Flushing Bay’s shore.
“Combined sewer overflows are the great congenital flaw in the system,” said Dr. John Waldman, who researches fish populations at Queens College. “Our sewer system was built when the city was young. It would be impossible to tear it up and redo it.”
Lucky for the fishermen, the situation has improved, thanks to a sewage retention facility that opened in 2007 in College Point. It collects up to 43 million gallons of sewage overflow during heavy rain and stores it prior to treatment. Hidden under a set of turf soccer fields, these tanks are estimated to eliminate the amount of sewage entering the bay by 40 percent.
Floating booms currently surround most discharge point and DEP boats periodically collect the suspended waste.
Eaton said that remediation efforts have paid off, even though the water is still not fit to catch a meal. “Overall things are getting better,” he said. “They are still pretty bad, but they are getting better.”
