> YOU CAN ACTUALLY EAT TORONTO’S FISH
Toronto’s fish are (mostly) safe to eat, says Dr. Satyendra Bhavsar, a Toronto-based research scientist with the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change who specializes in monitoring contaminants in Ontario’s fish. Whether or not a fish is safe to eat largely depends on the species, its size and where it was caught, Bhavsar says. As a rough rule, the bigger the fish and/or the higher on the food chain, the greater the potential contamination. The primary contaminants affecting fish in the GTA are polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs: a highly toxic family of chemicals that were once extensively used in manufacturing electrical equipment. PCBs have been linked to cancer and developmental disabilities and were banned in Canada in 1977. Releasing such chemicals into the environment was made illegal in 1985. But PCBs still linger in the waterways, accumulating in fishes’ fatty tissue, they are particularly prevalent in fatty fishes, such as salmon and trout. “Overall, there have been significant declines in PCB levels in fish from GTA tributaries and the Toronto waterfront, which makes the fish much safer to eat now than 40 years ago,” says Bhavsar, an occasional GTA angler and fish-eater. Those PCB levels have declined by more than 90 per cent in several species and waterways, the scientist says. “Fish in the Toronto waterfront area are more or less safe to eat, provided that you follow the consumption advice.” That advice is laid out in the ministry’s biennial Guide to Eating Ontario Fish. By measuring contaminant levels in different species at more than 2,300 locations province-wide, the guide provides site-specific recommendations about how many fish meals per month you can safely eat. Bhavsar says trash-strewn urban waterways are not necessarily more tainted than those in other parts of the province. PCBs, mercury and many pesticides are invisible to the naked eye and contaminants can be naturally occurring. “In many cases, actually, advisories are more restrictive for remote locations than for GTA water bodies, and this is largely a result of mercury that can be naturally present and can be found at higher levels in the Canadian Shield area,” he says. An interactive version of the guide is available at Ontario.ca/fishguide.