Mercury contamination prompts new warning about eating fish from Mother Lode reservoirs

State officials have extended fish consumption warnings to three of the Mother Lode reservoirs near Lodi.

Most significantly, the new report shows that children and women of child-bearing age should never eat black bass caught from New Hogan Lake because of mercury contamination. The same warning has already been issued for Camanche and New Melones reservoirs.

The warnings are not based on any new threat, nor are they a surprise. Similar warnings have been issued for many water bodies across California.

For example, the state already recommends that no one eat any fish or shellfish caught around the Port of Stockton because the fish may be laced with cancercausing PCBs.

Such warnings have been issued at different times based on priority, said Sam Delson, a spokesman for the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.

“It does take a lot of work and time, and we do have limited staff,” Delson said. “We’re trying to cover as much of the state as we can.”

Even if you don’t eat fish from the foothill reservoirs, the new warning provides a reminder that anyone who does eat fish from lakes or rivers anywhere can go online for advice on how much, if any, they should consume. Not every water body in California has been specifically studied, but state officials have also issued more general guidance that applies anywhere.