TITLE
Recommendation to authorize City Manager or designee to execute an agreement between the City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services and the United States Environmental Protection Agency for education and outreach services to reduce the consumption of contaminated fish in connection with the Palos Verdes Shelf Fish Contamination Project for the period of August 1, 2008 through July 31, 2011; and increase appropriations in the amount of $98,689 in the Health Fund (SR 130) in the Department of Health and Human Services (HE). (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has awarded the City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services (Health Department) a grant in the amount of $148,689, for the period of August 1, 2008 through July 31, 2011, to conduct market inspections of white croakers and to provide support to USEPA's overall program for the Palos Verdes Shelf, including public outreach and education, monitoring and enforcement.
The Palos Verdes Shelf United States Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site off the Los Angeles County Palos Verdes Peninsula is among the largest contaminated ocean sediment sites in the United States. Past disposal practices of carcinogenic and toxigenic chemicals, including DOT and PCB, have resulted in the accumulation of harmful levels of these substances in certain species of fish. In 1990, based on very high levels of contamination, the California Department of Fish and Game created zones off the Palos Verdes Shelf where the commercial catch of white croaker is banned. Subsequently, the USEPA's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment issued fish consumption advisories for certain fish, including white croaker, caught within the Palos Verdes Shelf and other Southern California sites because of elevated DOT and PCB levels. In 1996, a study conducted by the Heal the Bay environmental organization showed white croaker with elevated levels of DOT an...
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