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Pollution in the SF Estuary
"I realize I don’t have to be that hardcore environmentalist to let people know, what affects our wildlife, affects us. "
By Ricky Zhang
Now just because I am interning for San Francisco Estuary Institute, a non-profit environmental organization, does not mean I am a hardcore environmentalist. I’m not going to impersonate Al Gore in “an inconvenient truth” or go into the whole global warming spiel - I’ll leave that to Al. Instead, I’m going to talk about the San Francisco estuary, a big part of the San Francisco Bay, which is pretty much contaminated.
So what exactly is the Estuary? My co-worker Max Delaney, enlightened me:
MAX DELANEY (on tape)
The estuary is basically the region where fresh water coming out of rivers and streams meets salt water coming from in the ocean so it’s the mixture of those two types of ecosystems that forms the estuary.
RICKY
But there are some unwanted ingredients in that mix besides fresh and salt water. Toxins, like Polychlorinated Biphenyls, or PCBs, mercury, and insecticides. These chemicals stick to the sediment, and from there, they get absorbed by phytoplankton-and through a complicated food chain I won’t bore you with, Max says, the toxins get to the fish.
MAX DELANEY (on tape)
…the chemicals actually become attached to lipids and other fatty materials in the fish’s body and therefore it actually accumulates and is not able to be easily purged by the fish.
RICKY
Max says people who do a lot of fishing and eat what they catch can be exposed to these chemicals, and that puts certain ethnic communities especially at risk.
MAX DELANEY (on tape)
The Laotian community is definitely something that a group of people that tends to have a reputation for fishing more for subsistence and consumption in the bay.
RICKY
Torm Nompraseurt is a local activist who runs the Laotian Organization Project.
MAX DELANEY (on tape)
It is true… the Laotian community consumed the fish that they fished around the bay area here much, much higher than the state recommended - three times higher.
RICKY
Wow, that’s a lot of fish. And Torm says, traditionally, Laotian people don’t just fish for themselves.
MAX DELANEY (on tape)
…In the Laotian community… when you caught a large fish you call all of different family in your circle…
RICKY
Many members of the Laotian Community here in the bay area make minimum wage and have to work two or three jobs, so fishing for their families is a necessity. Sandy Saeturn, a member of the mien community, can relate.
SANDY SAETURN (on tape)
Well, I came from a family of just a single mother and there’s eight of us, so my mom had to provide for eight of us…
RICKY
Sandy went on to become a youth activist working on environmental issues. But Sandy’s only one person. As my co-worker Max says…
MAX DELANEY (on tape)
…most people don’t get a chance to really understand the chemicals that are out there in the estuary and how they are affecting us and especially the youth. They are often the ones that know the least about this and therefore don’t know how chemicals affect wildlife and affect their own consumption of fish and their own health.
RICKY
I realize I don’t have to be that hardcore environmentalist to let people know, what affects our wildlife, affects us. So I know what my family’s dinner table conversation will be, the next time fish is served.
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