City Schools Local Fishermen To Be Wary Of Deadliest Catch

Photo taken by Matt Semel on flickr

People, throw the fish back in the water. That is what the city is making sure to remind New Yorkers of with new signage going up at fishing spots around town. This comes after the Daily News discovered that old signs had worn away or were non-existent while fishing for food among lower-income New Yorkers is on the rise. The signs warning of high levels of carcinogens such as PCBs and mercury don't sound likely to deter the fishermen though—they tell the paper that contaminated fish beats an empty dinner plate. While Senator Schumer is asking the federal government to update its guidelines on what fish is safe, the mayor has basically said pish posh to all this, that people should "use common sense" when dealing with city waters. Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum is taking him to task for that, calling the mayor "out of touch" with the low-income fishermen, whom she says "we need to protect." A spokesman from the mayor shot back, "There are actually still a lot of people in government who work on solutions instead of just calling people names."

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By Billy Parker in News on July 9, 2009 6:14 PM

Comments [rss]

NannyState

A lot of those "fishermen" are recent immigrants who might not understand any new signs. You either have to go into their communities and educate in their language or just leave them alone.

JenChungsBaby

Betsy Gotbaum came out of hiding?!?!?!?! Wow. Our most overpaid public official who basically does squat for a living actually made a comment? (Only to get slapped down by a nameless mayoral spokesman -- shows you how much respect she commands.)

sowhtifithppnsitwll

Low income, why would mike care?

Oh, did i say i hate bloomberg?

UnrepentantFenian

King Mike out of touch with the common man? I am shocked. Shocked I tell you!

Outter Burrougher

first of all, bloomberg, you can't use common sense to choose not to do something if you've never been educated on why it's a bad idea to do it; the signs are a service in the name of that purpose.

second of all, bloomberg, my common sense tells me that if I can find a way to feed my famiy, rather than have them starve, I do it.

i know those fish are nasty, so does everyone reading this, but without any of the education/reports that told us there was that danger, sense does tell you to eat those fish.