“I WOULDN’T EAT FISH IN THE SANTA Monica Bay, even if I was starving. I would- n’t swim in the bay or even dip my toe in it. It’s all filth and bacteria.”
“THERE IS NO CHANCE OF ME EATING fish that enjoy feeding on the delicacy of Santa Monica Bay poop that has been strained and filtered by the sanitation plant which flows freely into the ocean water of Santa Monica Bay. I would find the fish in the ocean water north-west of Point Dume to be more inviting. Still, the entire coastline of California is, to some extent, polluted due to the various forms of polluted land runoff systems, such as storm drains, creeks and rivers.”
“I WOULD BE MORE CONCERNED WITH what goes in our water supply then what supposedly is in the Pacific Ocean. Mr. Gold, from Heal the Bay, will always be negative on any report, other than his own about the Santa Monica Bay. It’s in his own self-interest to misinterpret a positive report. I know residents and 40-year-old locals who fish every week and eat what they catch, and haven’t grown any extra appendages. But the best example are the dolphins that swim up and down the coast. They seem to be OK, but of course they are just dumb aquatic mammals who eat mostly fish, unlike the b.s. that we are forced to ingest.”
“ARE YOU KIDDING?”
“I AM A HOMELESS MAN WHO FISHES from the pier, and I feel very safe eating fish from the bay. Something from the fish enables me to glow in the dark, so I can sleep on the sidewalk knowing that no one will accidentally step on me. When I take a dump on the sidewalk, people will notice my glowing matter before they step on it.”
“THE WHOLE BAY IS POLLUTED AND THE whole ocean is polluted, so whenever we eat the fish we will have chemicals accumulating in the body. So it doesn’t really make a difference if it’s fish from the Santa Monica Bay.”
This past week, Q-line asked: California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) recently released a report relaxing weekly consumption limits of sport fish. Environmentalists say the report is not as protective of public health as it should be. Do you feel safe eating fish caught in the Santa Monica Bay? Here are your responses:
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 12, 2008. Read the original PDF.