Jeff Bergosh Blog: Is it Safe to Eat the Fish from Perdio Bay?

Guidelines

I am one member of a five person board. The opinions I express on this forum are mine only, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Escambia County Staff, Administrators, Employees, or anyone else associated with Escambia County Florida. I am interested in establishing this blog as a means of additional transparency to the public, outreach to the community, and information dissemination to all who choose to look. Feedback is welcome, but because public participation is equally encouraged, appropriate language and decorum is mandatory. Although this is not my campaign site for re-election--sometimes campaign related information will be discussed, therefore in an abundance of caution I add the following : Political Advertisement Paid for and Approved by Jeff Bergosh, Republican, for Escambia County Commissioner District 1

Saturday, January 28, 2017

Is it Safe to Eat the Fish from Perdio Bay?

Mullet from Perdido Bay is safe to eat according to the experts

....This was the concerned question posed to me by a constituent of District 1 that lives on Perdido Bay and frequently eats the fish caught there.

After all, the International Paper Mill explosion that covered a substantial part of Escambia County in "Black Liquor" is being cleaned up, and much of it will inevitably be washing downstream--- eventually entering Perdido Bay--according to some reports.

So I asked the question about whether or not the fish in Perdido bay would be affected--I asked this of the top environmental personnel in the area, who answered the question as follows:

Chips Kirschenfeld, Director of the Escambia County Natural Resources Department, wrote back to the constituent and said "Thank you for your inquiry into Perdido Bay water quality. The water quality data that we have collected and analyzed shows no concerns for surface waters surrounding IP and including Perdido Bay...to our knowledge, there are no health advisories or concerns with air quality or the consumption of seafood in Perdido Bay."

Escambia County Health Department Director John Lanza also weighed in, stating "Thanks for the questions. There are no health advisories, concerns with air quality or consumption advisories for Perdido Key associated with the IP Incident."