Thousands Could Be Eating Contaminated Anacostia Fish

Chemicals in the fat-tissue of the fish can affect the immune system of humans who eat it and even cause birth defects.

Sharing your food is supposed to be good thing.  But when it comes to fish from the polluted Anacostia River, researchers want anglers to stop sharing their contaminated catch.   Half of Anacostia fishermen share their fish with others along the watershed, according to a new survey released by local environmental groups. Most of the anglers—who are disproportionately African American, Asian and Hispanic—share the fish with underemployed neighbors or are begged for fish that they would otherwise throw back. “This causes a community of 1,000 to 2,000 anglers to extend the consumption of the Anacostia protein to 15,000 or 17,000 people,” said Mike Bolinder of Anacostia Riverkeeper, one of the groups that commissioned the report. Chemicals in …

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River Watch

Tweeting on the Potomac

When a large group of river experts get together, you hear a lot that’s gloomy, a little that’s encouraging, and every so often something that’s just mildly amusing.

One market research firm found that of 2,000 tweets (as in Twitter, not orioles singing along the Potomac shoreline), 40 percent is “pointless babble,” while only 4 percent is actual news. I don’t tweet (or babble). But I was wishing that I did during my two days at the recent Maryland Streams Symposium. When you have whole rooms full of top experts from our local universities and government agencies all talking about our rivers and streams, you’re bound to pick up things you want to pass along.   Here’s a sampling:   A Sobering Thought A lot of taxpayer dollars are spent trying to fix up lifeless urban streams so that plants and animals can live in them again. And the results? A big zero, according to research in Montgomery County carried…

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The Last Late Night For Little Seneca

Black Hills permits fisherman to stay until midnight Wednesday

It may be that the early bird catches the worm.  But many fishermen find there is a lot to catch after the sun goes down too. That's why once a month Black Hill Park stays open until midnight, to allow local residents the chance to explore the waters of Little Seneca Lake in the dark. On Wednesday Black Hill Park offers its final night fishing opportunity of the year.  Usually, the park closes at sundown.  But on Wednesday, anyone with a boat permit and fishing license is allowed to continue fishing through the evening. Park police will be on site and will make sure everyone leaves by midnight, said Montgomery Parks spokesperson Kelly Holsendolph.  She said on average about 50 people come out to fish for the night fishing evenings. "The …