Is Your Seafood Safe? New Resources Provide Answers for Coastal Georgia

When residents of communities on Georgia’s southeastern coast expressed concerns about how contamination from industrial chemicals was affecting the safety of the seafood from their waters, researchers from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health worked with local collaborators to create a set of resources to provide accurate and accessible answers to residents and visitors alike.

Healthy Coastal Neighborhoods—a coalition of representatives from Rollins, Coastal Community Health, Georgia Tech’s CEAR Hub, Glynn Environmental Coalition, One Hundred Miles, Rebuild Glynn County Community Development Corporation, University of Georgia Marine Extension and Sea Grant, and Urbana/Perry Park Neighborhood Planning Assembly—recently launched Seafood Smart, a mobile-friendly website that provides easy-to-access information on which locally caught fish and shellfish are safe to eat, and how often.

The website helps users quickly access consumption guidelines for a variety of fish and shellfish based on where the seafood was caught in Glynn County. The recommendations are based on data from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which tests fish for contaminants statewide.

In addition to the Smart Seafood website, the Healthy Coastal Neighborhoods Coalition created educational videos and, in collaboration with UGA Marine Extension and Sea Grant, a printer-friendly pamphlet.

Glynn County has a long history of industrial pollution. Its county seat, Brunswick, is home to more than a dozen Superfund sites, including four that are on or proposed for the EPA’s National Priorities List. Pollution from these sites has in some cases spread to local soil, water, and seafood. A study led by Rollins School of Public Health researchers, which was published in Environmental Pollution last year, found residents of this county have elevated levels of industrial chemicals in their bodies.

“We are interested in reducing people’s future exposure to these hazardous chemicals, and one of the ways we think people might be getting exposed is through certain types of local seafood,” says Noah Scovronick, PhD, associate professor of environmental health at Rollins. “There is a long tradition in Glynn County of eating seafood as a form of nutrition, during celebrations, and as a manifestation of the cultural richness that’s there. These new resources are not meant to discourage people from eating local seafood altogether. Instead, they are designed to ensure they eat it in a way that aligns with the most current public health recommendations.”

Glynn County resident Chantae Knowles grew up around the water, where eating locally caught crab is a way of life. She was surprised to learn from the new resources that crabs from waterways like Terry Creek and the Back River should only be eaten once a month while there were no restrictions on crabs from the Lower Turtle and South Brunswick rivers.

“It’s important that we can keep eating the crabs and other seafood,” Knowles said. “I’m in favor of anything that helps my neighbors stay healthy.”