| EcoVillage’s
Delta Watershed Fish Advisory Project
During
the past three years EcoVillage Farm Learning
Center has been actively involved in providing
consumers awareness and education information
to West Contra Costa County residents about the
health risks associated with eating methyl-mercury
contaminated fish caught from the Sacramento Delta
Watershed.
There
are well-documented health benefits (i.e., improves
cardiovascular system…etc.) associated with
eating fish; however, all of the waters (rivers,
lakes, creeks, reservoirs, streams) within the
Sacramento Delta Watershed are polluted with mercury
and other organic chemicals. Therefore, all the
fish caught from this watershed are contaminated
too in varying degrees depending on age, size,
species and habitat.
The
primary source of the methyl-mercury is from the
old mercury mines. Mercury was used in the mining
of gold in California during the gold rush days
and beyond.
The
primary goals of EcoVillage’s Fish Advisory
Project have been to:
Increasing consumers’ awareness about the
health risks associated with eating fish from
the Delta Watershed.
Letting consumer know which fish are healthier
or safer (carry lesser pollution load of methyl-mercury
and other pollutants) to eat.
EcoVillage
Farm Learning Center is also conducting a Participatory
Action Research and Evaluation Project on Bluegill
Fish. We are calling Bluegill fish the “Canary
of the Sea” because their biological system
is very sensitive to chemicals and/or other pollutants
in the water.
This
project is being conducted in coordination with
a Richmond High School students and a 10th grade
Biology teacher.
The
students are learning how to conduct community
based participatory action research and evaluation,
and how to protect the health of their community
and watershed environment.
|
