Statement of Waterkeepers & Fishermen on Anticipated WA State Fish Announcement

Waterkeepers Washington and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations are urging the Governor of Washington to establish protective water quality standards based on actual fish consumption rates. They argue that the current rate of 6.5 grams per day is inadequate and fails to protect citizens, particularly high-consumption communities, from toxic pollution in waterways like the Duwamish and Columbia rivers.

• The Washington Department of Ecology has used a fish consumption rate of 6.5 grams per day, which the authors describe as a "morsel that fits on a snack cracker" and a rate "universally recognized as inadequate."
• The authors identify several problematic elements in previous proposals from the Washington Department of Ecology, including "mixing zones" where toxins are expected to dilute, "variances" that excuse sections of water from meeting standards, "intake credits" for polluters, and a proposal to increase public risk from one in a million to one in 100,000 people.
• The EPA has advised states for over a decade to use the best available data for fish consumption standards, specifically including populations that consume high amounts of fish for cultural, religious, or social reasons, such as Native American tribes and Asian, Pacific-Islander communities.
• The groups, represented by Earthjustice, sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in October 2013 to compel the agency to enforce protective standards where the state of Washington had failed to do so.

APA

Earthjustice (2014). Statement of Waterkeepers & Fishermen on Anticipated WA State Fish Announcement. https://earthjustice.org/press/2014/statement-of-waterkeepers-washington-and-pacific-coast-federation-of-fishermen-s-associations-regarding

Chicago

Earthjustice. Statement of Waterkeepers & Fishermen on Anticipated WA State Fish Announcement. 2014. https://earthjustice.org/press/2014/statement-of-waterkeepers-washington-and-pacific-coast-federation-of-fishermen-s-associations-regarding.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Earthjustice |title=Statement of Waterkeepers & Fishermen on Anticipated WA State Fish Announcement |date=8 July 2014 |url=https://earthjustice.org/press/2014/statement-of-waterkeepers-washington-and-pacific-coast-federation-of-fishermen-s-associations-regarding |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{earthjustice2014statement, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{Statement of Waterkeepers \& Fishermen on Anticipated WA State Fish Announcement}}, publisher = {Earthjustice}, year = {2014}, month = jul, url = {https://earthjustice.org/press/2014/statement-of-waterkeepers-washington-and-pacific-coast-federation-of-fishermen-s-associations-regarding}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }