Ohio River fishing (Cincinnati: dangerous, club, shops)

[cincity]

Do these people fishing in the Ohio at the public landing and serpentine wall eat the fish they're pulling in? Some of them look quite hungry. Some are men with wife/kids along, and they don't look like they're doing it to pass the time.

Oh man. I never overestimate the level of education and common sense of the general public, so have to ask. I'm sure the river is cleaner than it was in 1970, but....

[Wilson513]

First, people have been eating fish from the Ohio River for all of time. The pollution that ends up in fish is a public health issue, not an individual health issue. Properly prepared fish will not have bacteria present because of the heat of cooking and the trace chemicals, poisons, drugs and metals are so infinitesimal that while they matter from a public health standpoint on an individual basis they won't make any difference.

Having said that, I would not touch anything that came out of the Ohio River at Cincinnati even my own wet shoes. Hundreds of communities waste, often barely treated, finds its way into the Ohio River.

Half a century ago, or more, we bought fish from the men who fish the Ohio. I survived it then as others did. But back then everything was cooked to death because even meat from the butcher shops was suspect. Today, people eat things more gently cooked and so it is probably more dangerous.

[progmac]

just don't fish near the yacht club