The water of the Houston Ship Channel around the Battleship Texas is murky, like the color of weak coffee with cream. Off-white foam and bubbles dot the surface, and an iridescent rainbow film clings to the sides of the concrete pier.

The fish and crabs in the water –- almost all, according to a recent study –- are as dirty as the channel, contaminated with dioxins.

Yet on a recent Saturday morning about a dozen people cast their rods and dropped their traps in search of a meal at San Jacinto State Park.



“There hasn’t been a whole lot out here today, just enough to show I went fishing,” said Richard Brown, a long-time fisherman.

Humberto Garcia, sitting next to an empty five-gallon bucket, was fishing with his daughter. “No fish. No luck for me today,” Garcia said.

An empty creel is actually lucky in this situation and at this place. In 1990, the state health department first warned against eating more than 8 ounces a month of fish or crabs caught in the waterway, especially the area north of the Lynchburg Ferry. The seafood is tainted with potentially cancer-causing dioxins and pesticides.

Dioxins are a group of about 200 different chemical compounds that are the by-product of chemical incineration. Studies have shown that exposure to dioxins at high enough doses may cause reproductive problems, immune deficiencies, skin disease, liver damage and adult cancers, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The most recent study, “Total Maximum Daily Load for Dioxins in the Houston Ship Channel,” conducted by University of Houston associate professor Dr. Hanadi Rifai, found that 96 percent of the fish tested had dioxin levels well above both state and EPA standards, the same or higher than in 1990.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality standard is 0.47 parts per trillion. Fish from the water around San Jacinto State Park averaged 9.523 parts per trillion. That means the fish are swimming around with more than 20 times the acceptable level of dioxins in their bodies. The Texas Department of Health standard is 3.49 parts per trillion, which is seven times more lenient than that of the TCEQ.

“We do have problems in the upper area where we have contaminants of concern,” said Gary Heideman, assistant director of the seafood safety division of TDH. “Warnings are put out with fishing licenses and on the internet in multiple languages.”

Both Garcia and Brown said they were aware of the warning but chose to fish anyway.

“I catch crabs and fish. Some people say the crabs are no good, but I cook them in soups. They cook a long time, and they don’t taste bad to me,” Garcia said.

Rifai said that although the dioxins don’t have any taste or smell when in the seafood, they bio-accumulate -- meaning that once they get in the body, they stay there.

“Outside of eliminating the source, they [dioxins] don’t go away. They are tough stable compounds that accumulate over time,” Rifai said.

Rifai said that based on her studies, there needs to be a 90 percent reduction to meet health standards.

The TDH does not consider the effects, which can take place over a 30-year period if the fish is consumed on a regular basis, to be an imminent risk.

“We know that people still put crab traps out there,” Heideman said. “Usually we try to get people to get them out. The parks and wildlife department will go out there and pull them out, or the wardens will see them and have them pulled out.”

Although three employees of the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife were within eyesight of the anglers, no one attempted to stop the fishing. There were more than 20 pamphlets about parks and fishing sites at the nearby gift shop and information center, but not one contained any warnings about tainted fish.

Alfonso Ceballos, an employee of the parks and wildlife department at San Jacinto, said he saw people fishing from the pier all the time, but those people were only asked to stop if they did not have a license.

“They usually fish for crabs but not me,” said Ceballos. “I don’t fish here. I don’t eat the fish. There’s chemicals [in the channel]. It’s no good. I don’t know why they fish here.”

Heideman said the TDH doesn’t do any source- tracking of the chemicals. They use the studies to set bans when they are needed.

“The levels are not what we would consider an acute or imminent public health risk,” Heideman said. “It’s not something where they [anglers] are going to get sick right now if they eat them. Over a period of time they could, but we have to be protective enough to let people know that there is a potential problem here. And it’s just an advisory. People can take it or not.”

While Brown and Garcia choose to ignore the warnings, the fact that the health department doesn’t put advisory signs up at the fishing locations adds to the number of people fishing at the tainted locations.

The department states that putting up signs at the affected areas would cost too much money. A bill that would have set funds for signage did not pass during the 78th Legislature.

Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, whose district covers most of the Ship Channel, has put up four signs to warn of dioxins with funds from her precinct. At least six more are coming to the most contaminated areas.

As noon approached and the tankers cruised past more frequently, Brown packed up his supplies. He left with two fish and no crabs.

“All kinds of things can kill you if you listen to what people say,” Brown said. “I don’t catch enough to hurt anyone, anyway.”

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