Wake County waterways carry rare warning: Don't eat any fish
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Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios
In some Wake County waterways, signs announce to anglers that the fish cannot, under any circumstances, be eaten.
Why it matters: Eating lots of freshwater fish in North Carolina comes with health risks because of the widespread presence of mercury in the environment. Total bans are uncommon, though.
- This one is caused by another contaminant: cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
Flashback: In the 1960s and '70s, according to government reports, rain rinsed chemicals from an industrial site near the Raleigh-Durham International Airport into a small stream that feeds into Brier Creek, Crabtree Creek and Lake Crabtree.
- The now-closed Ward Transformer Co. was handling electrical equipment like transformers back when they were filled with PCBs.
The intrigue: The same company was fined and its employees criminally prosecuted for dumping PCBs out of trucks on North Carolina roadsides in the late '70s.
Zoom in: The U.S. government banned the manufacture of PCBs in 1979 "based on mounting evidence that they were toxic to human health and the environment," per the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
- PCBs are synthetic oily liquids that tend not to break down in the environment, sticking to soil and animal tissue. They cause cancer and many other human health issues, researchers have found.
How it works: Predatory fish like catfish and bass are especially hazardous because they've not only accumulated chemicals over their lifetimes; they've also eaten the chemicals other fish have built up in their lifetimes.
State of play: The EPA classified the facility as a Superfund site in 2003, meaning it would be prioritized for cleanup. The same year, the state began issuing PCB-related fish advisories for the area.
- Wake County went a step further in 2005 and made Lake Crabtree and Crabtree Creek catch-and-release only. Swimming isn't allowed either.
- The warning signs are loud and clear: "DO NOT take any fish." A crossed-out illustration of a catfish appears above a list of health conditions from eating the fish, including cancer, infections, cracked fingernails and learning disabilities.
The big picture: Mercury is reason to limit yourself to one meal of select freshwater fish a week (none for kids and women who are pregnant or breastfeeding).
- Catfish, largemouth bass, crappie and several other species fall in this category.
- Safer fish include trout, tilapia, bluegill and anything farm-raised.
Yes, but: Public health researchers surveyed central North Carolina anglers in 2016 and found most "had no knowledge of local fish advisories."
Follow the money: Ward Transformer Co. ended all operations by 2006 and settled a lawsuit over the cleanup costs in 2020, agreeing to pay $2.1 million.
- The EPA reports spending more than $90 million on the site.
What they're saying: The EPA will keep taking samples at the Ward Transformer site "to confirm the effectiveness of the cleanup efforts and assess residual PCB levels in local fish tissue … for a decade or more," agency spokesperson Dwayne Wingfield told Axios in an email.
What's next: Meanwhile, the next frontier in fish consumption warnings is the presence of forever chemicals like PFAS and PFOS.
- The state issued its first advisory in 2023 for the lower Cape Fear River.
- OWASA sampled fish from Chapel Hill's Cane Creek Reservoir for PFAS last year and warns against consuming them.