EPA Victoria scientists will soon be seen on Port Phillip Bay, on the river banks that feed into it and Gippsland Lakes as they start the collection phase of a project to better understand how our urban activity is affecting marine life.

“There is no doubt there are contaminants flowing through our waterways, often fed by storm drains, out to the bay. It’s inescapable in such a concentrated urban environment,” said EPA Chief Environmental Scientist, Professor Mark Taylor.

“We monitor as much as we can but this project will collect a targeted range of fish species and see what levels of which contaminants are present which will help us determine potential health risks.”

The project aims to:

• Determine concentrations of contaminants in target recreational fish species sourced from the Yarra and Maribyrnong Rivers, Port Phillip Bay, and Gippsland Lakes
• Revise the existing fish consumption warnings for the Yarra and Maribrynong Rivers as well as the Gippsland Lakes
• Provide appropriate information to inform high-level decisions regarding the consumption of recreational fish species from the four targeted water bodies.
• Assist in addressing the concerns of the wider community, regarding the known safe levels for consumption of recreational fish from the four targeted water bodies.
• Provide preliminary information to the EPA on how fish bioaccumulate contaminants and implications for human exposure to PFAS, PCBs, and trace elements at other locations.

Some of the fish species will include European carp, and flathead. Professor Taylor says he expects to see the presence of some contaminants actually reducing having started to break down in the environment.

“We’ll be working responsibly and humanely using mostly types of fishing nets and releasing unharmed, any fish that aren’t specific to the testing program. We expect there will up to two months collection followed by a period for testing and analysis with results available later in the year,” he said.