Anglers along the Wissahickon Creek just lost their fish fry. State officials issued a do-not-eat advisory covering every species of fish in the entire Wissahickon Creek basin this week, after testing found elevated levels of a toxic forever chemical in sampled fish tissue, and the fallout has already canceled a popular fall trout stocking in Philadelphia.
Forever Chemical Found Above State Threshold
The advisory, issued Wednesday, came after high levels of perfluorooctane sulfonate, or PFOS, turned up in fish tissue samples from the basin, according to CBS News Philadelphia. The levels exceeded Pennsylvania's advisory threshold of 0.04 parts per million, the outlet reported. PFOS belongs to a family of chemical substances known as PFAS that readily build up in fish tissue, per the same report.
The advisory is not limited to one stretch of water. It applies to all species of fish in the entire Wissahickon Creek basin, CBS News Philadelphia reported, meaning anyone fishing anywhere in that system should not eat what they catch. NBC10 Philadelphia reports the advisory stretches across the Wissahickon Creek basin in both Montgomery County and Philadelphia.
A Watershed That Touches Several Communities
The Wissahickon Creek watershed includes numerous streams running through Montgomery County, Plymouth, Whitemarsh, Whitpain, and the far reaches of Philadelphia, according to Patch. That reach means the advisory touches a wide swath of suburban Philadelphia creeks that feed into the larger system, not just the stretch that winds through Fairmount Park.
The timing stings for local anglers. Trout stocking that had been scheduled for the Wissahickon in Philadelphia on Oct. 15 has been canceled because of the advisory, the same outlet reported, and there are no plans to reschedule it this year.
Public Meeting Set for Early November
Officials are giving residents a chance to weigh in on what comes next. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission plans to hold a public meeting on Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. to discuss future trout stocking options and hear from anglers, the report notes. The session is set for the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education at 8480 Hagy's Mill Road in Philadelphia.
The meeting will also address lost angler opportunities, according to the Patch report. For anglers who had circled the Wissahickon for fall trout season, it's the first formal venue to push back or ask what happens next.
Not the First PFOS Advisory This Year
The Wissahickon situation echoes advisories issued earlier this year elsewhere in the state. Pennsylvania agencies issued a do-not-eat advisory on Feb. 27 for all species of fish in Briar Creek in Columbia County and in Middle Spring Creek in Cumberland and Franklin counties, according to GoErie.com, also attributed to high PFOS levels found in sampled fish tissue. In those waterways, fishing remained permitted even as anglers were told not to eat their catch, and the Fish and Boat Commission discontinued trout stocking in the impacted waters until further notice, per the same report. Officials there also installed 30 filtration systems in the Briar Creek watershed, with 24 more planned for the Middle Spring watershed, GoErie.com reported.
Pennsylvania has been building out its PFOS testing infrastructure over the past year, having adopted tiered meal advice for the chemical and begun collecting and analyzing fish tissue samples specifically for it, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The state separately maintains a general statewide health advisory recommending no more than one meal, or one-half pound, of sport fish caught in Pennsylvania lakes and streams per week, the agency notes on its fish consumption advisories page.
