DESPITE health warnings regarding the consumption of fish caught west of Sydney Harbour bridge, a study has shown anglers are still fishing the area from boats and shore.
According to the ABC, a comprehensive study of how Sydney residents use the harbour has identified fishing “hotspots” west of the bridge, an area subject to health warnings.
Scientists say fish caught west of the bridge could be contaminated with cancer-causing pollutants.
Luke Hedge, from the Sydney Institute of Marine Science, said that “on a perfect Sydney day” up to 20 boatloads of fishermen could be found in each of the hotspots around the Lane Cove River and east of Cockatoo Island, and between 15 and 20 anglers fish from the wharves to the immediate west of the Harbour Bridge.
That was despite multi-lingual signs warning of the threat from dioxins – industrial pollutants washing out from Homebush Bay that can cause cancer.
Professor Emma Johnston from the University of New South Wales said the problem was not new.
“A factory released a large amount of dioxins around the Homebush Bay area for many years. So the sediment is a historical legacy of contamination,” she said.
Significant remediation work has reportedly been carried out in the harbour over the past five years to remove a lot of the toxic sediment.
Read more at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-16/health-warning-over-fish-caught-west-of-sydney-harbour-bridge/5674960
