County Will Post Signs Warning of Peril in Fish

The county Department of Health Services on Tuesday announced that it will immediately post warnings about the possible dangers of eating contaminated fish from Santa Monica and San Pedro bays, reversing an earlier stand that had generated considerable controversy.

Robert Gates, department director, said warnings about the dangers of DDT and PCB, two toxic substances that have been found in local sport fish, will be posted on each pier between Santa Monica and Long Beach by Friday.

Gates made his announcement at a meeting of the county Board of Supervisors. His appearance was prompted by concern over the department’s refusal to post warning signs about contamination, despite recommendations by the state Department of Health Services, the state Department of Fish and Game and the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.

“Our preliminary conclusion was the extent of the problem documented by the state was not sufficient to post the warnings,” Gates said. “We subsequently reviewed the data and reversed ourselves in order to be on the safe side and make a full disclosure to the public.”

Three Worst Sites

In accordance with the earlier recommendations, Gates said health department warnings would state that white croaker (also known as tom cod) should be avoided because of the presence of “trace amounts of DDT and PCB.” Special signs will warn against eating any fish caught at the three most contaminated sites--Whites Point sewage outfall near the Palos Verdes Peninsula, the Gerald Desmond Bridge in Long Beach and Cabrillo Pier in Los Angeles Harbor.

Three other state health department recommendations will not be included on the warning signs. They are that pregnant women and young children avoid eating more than one local sport fish per month, that local sport fishermen eat no more than two fish meals per week and that fish livers be avoided entirely.

Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), head of a state task force investigating contamination in the bays, had expressed shock over the county health department’s initial decision. On Tuesday, he said he is “pleased the county had opted to override bureaucratic inertia and insensitivity and move to protect the public health.”

The Board of Supervisors called for further study of the health risks.

Supervisor Kenneth Hahn said the county was “paying the price” for “years and years of dumping toxic waste sludge in the ocean.” Supervisor Deane Dana criticized the “lack of coordination between the entities involved.” And Supervisor Edmund Edelman said that “any threat to the health of Los Angeles County residents should be addressed in a forthright fashion.”

Noting that the health risk assessment was based on studies made in 1980-81, the supervisors asked Gates to cooperate with state and federal officials studying contamination in the two bays. In addition, the supervisors asked the county counsel to determine which agencies ultimately are responsible for assessing the health risk from contamination and invited the author of several contamination studies to appear at next week’s meeting.