The White Croaker and Asian American Eating Habits

By Jeff | Saturday, July 18, 2009 | View Comments

Officials from the California Department of Fish and Game having been going to fishing piers and Chinese and Vietnamese markets in Southern California looking for people catching or buying white croaker (pictured). This article from the San Jose Mercury News mentions that

chemical companies in Southern California dumped large amounts of DDT and PCBs into sewers that go out to the Pacific Ocean in the 1970s. The white croaker, which became popular in local Asian markets and restaurants, doesn’t metabolize these chemicals like other fish and thus is a hazard to humans who consume them. White croakers caught off the Palos Verdes peninsula and a number of other Southern California locations should not be eaten. You can’t tell a contaminated white croaker from a clean one without testing. While there are projects underway to seal the contaminated sites, that process will take many years to complete. It will also be many years after that for the white croakers to become less contaminated.

Officials are encouraging Asian Americans to use only filets of fish and when cooking, to steam them, which makes toxin laden fat drip out. They are also discouraging Asian Americans from using fish heads in their soup, as a way of reducing chemical exposure. While I think it is laudable that the Fish and Game Department is considering Asian cultural processes and Asian America subsistence fishing as part of their work, that last part seems somehow wrong to me. I like fish heads in soup! They add a lot of flavor and are not wasted [quick aside - did anyone else's parents get free fish heads from grocery stores? My mother laments that there is so much demand from Asians that they charge for fish heads these days]. I suppose officials could also encourage some of the vegetarian traditions that are present in a number of Asian cultures, but I’d venture that would be unpopular with certain industries and government departments.

You can check out the official California warnings and recommendations for eating California fish. I find the specificity of the warnings to be amazing (and somewhat suspicious). For example, you should eat only one white croaker caught off of the ocean side of the Long Beach/Los Angeles breaker water per month, but don’t any white croakers caught in the Long Beach/Los Angeles harbor.

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http://www.blackphoebe.com/msjen msjen

Hi Jeff,

It is not suspicious, it is ocean currents. The DDT plume arches away from the Palos Verdes pennisula and into the South Bay/Santa Monica Bay. The DDT manufacturer was in Torrance and they dumped on the Santa Monica Bay side, not the Long Beach/San Pedro side.

Thus if you want to fish, do so south of Seal Beach, and preferably south of Newport Beach.

Also, the US military dumped nuclear waste in regular metal oil barrels in the 1950s into the Santa Monica Bay.

Basically, do NOT eat any fish caught fresh from Point Dume (Malibu) south to Point Hume (San Pedro).

If this upsets you and the LA Asian community, then get involved with the Save the Bay Foundation and Surfriders Foundation, as they are both on the forefront of the lead to clean up the Santa Monica Bay.
http://www.8asians.com/author/ancientone95131/ jeffat8asians

@msjen: Thanks for the info. “Suspicious” probably wasn't the best word. I found it amazing (and perhaps risky and perhaps not 100% credible) that they could figure out toxicity levels to the point where you should only eat only certain amounts of fish per month or week. Also thanks for the pointer to the Surfriders foundation. On the other pointer, I think you mean Heal the Bay. Let me know if this is wrong.
http://conservasian.blogspot.com/ conservasian

Better safe than sorry. I don't know their exact protocol in figuring out toxicity levels but my guess would be they have sampled the fish populations in that area and they can determine the average levels of toxins of the fish there Then those levels could be used to determine how much the average, healthy young person could safely eat (plus another category for child-bearing women/young children/seniors). Nothing is ever 100% accurate but you can be sure they are NOT kidding at all. I hate wasting food as well (I especially hate it when I watch people 'fillet' fish–such a crime!) but I personally would put my health over that. It is really sad that ignorant idiots in the past have left such lasting impacts on innocent people today. And in many/most cases, people of color.
http://conservasian.blogspot.com/ conservasian

Better safe than sorry. I don't know their exact protocol in figuring out toxicity levels but my guess would be they have sampled the fish populations in that area and they can determine the average levels of toxins of the fish there Then those levels could be used to determine how much the average, healthy young person could safely eat (plus another category for child-bearing women/young children/seniors). Nothing is ever 100% accurate but you can be sure they are NOT kidding at all. I hate wasting food as well (I especially hate it when I watch people 'fillet' fish–such a crime!) but I personally would put my health over that. It is really sad that ignorant idiots in the past have left such lasting impacts on innocent people today. And in many/most cases, people of color.

8 Asians