Rockfish - Safe to Eat?

[Pappy]

I've read a number of articles now, and am still wondering how safe it is to eat our native rockfish. Yesterday's Post article suggested that three-quarters of all the striped bass in the bay are affected with lesions. The watermen seem to be claiming that a) the disease has existed for decades, and it has not been found to produce any ill-effects in humans who consume the cooked meat.

I'll happily take certain calculated risks for a favorite dish, as is demonstrated everytime one eats a raw oyster or raw clam. Is this rockfish scare significantly more to be concerned about? Are all of you happily eating rockfish?

[mdt]

I've read a number of articles now, and am still wondering how safe it is to eat our native rockfish.  Yesterday's Post article suggested that three-quarters of all the striped bass in the bay are affected with lesions.  The watermen seem to be claiming that a) the disease has existed for decades, and it has not been found to produce any ill-effects in humans who consume the cooked meat.

I'll happily take certain calculated risks for a favorite dish, as is demonstrated everytime one eats a raw oyster or raw clam.  Is this rockfish scare significantly more to be concerned about?  Are all of you happily eating rockfish?

I have read about this as well and had the same questions. I find it hard to believe that 75% of the fish have always has this ailment. In local fishing trips in the past I cannot remember a lesion on any fish that our group caught.

I think I may hold off on the rockfish until I get more info.

[giant shrimp]

I've read a number of articles now, and am still wondering how safe it is to eat our native rockfish.  Yesterday's Post article suggested that three-quarters of all the striped bass in the bay are affected with lesions.  The watermen seem to be claiming that a) the disease has existed for decades, and it has not been found to produce any ill-effects in humans who consume the cooked meat.

I'll happily take certain calculated risks for a favorite dish, as is demonstrated everytime one eats a raw oyster or raw clam.  Is this rockfish scare significantly more to be concerned about?  Are all of you happily eating rockfish?

sure doesn't sound like my kind of sushi. is the rockfish being served around here local?

[qwertyy]

[Not directly related to the question, but... I carry a "sustainable fish" card in my wallet that's published by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It says which fish are good-to-go and which to avoid because of overfishing or ecological issues. The Web site is incredibly helpful because if you type in "rockfish" it gives you three different results that break down by region and nickname (rock cod, striper, greenhead...). None of them say anything about the lesions, but it's just a site I find useful.

Monterey Bay Aquarium]

[zoramargolis]

Fish you catch yourself, or fish you buy? Not that much of the rockfish sold locally comes from the Chesapeake. A lot of it is caught commercially off of the Carolinas. The retailer or restaurateur should know the source of the fish they are selling/serving. Ask.

[Pappy]

A trip to my favorite fish monger, River Falls Seafood in Potomac, found rockfish from North Carolina at, I think, $19.99/lb. Counterman said they will not offer local rockfish.

[Chris W]

Holy smokes is Rockfish normally that expensive??

[mdt]

Fish you catch yourself, or fish you buy? Not that much of the rockfish sold locally comes from the Chesapeake. A lot of it is caught commercially off of the Carolinas. The retailer or restaurateur should know the source of the fish they are selling/serving. Ask.

If you were asking me, it was fish that I had caught myself.

I thought the rockfish were born in freshwater before spending time in the Atlantic and then returning to their birthplace to spawn. Anyone know if I am remembering correctly? laniloa? So how would fish off of the Carolinas be totally safe?

[Waitman]

Fish you catch yourself, or fish you buy? Not that much of the rockfish sold locally comes from the Chesapeake. A lot of it is caught commercially off of the Carolinas. The retailer or restaurateur should know the source of the fish they are selling/serving. Ask.

Is that true of retail, as well? I always thought that the government ID tag running through their gills meant that it had been caught in waters where harvest was controlled, ie the Bay and its watershed. Am I completely off on this?

"The recent status of the striped bass fishery in the Chesapeake Bay tells a relative success story, after more than 10 years of steep decline... In response to this dramatic downturn, Congress passed the Atlantic Striped Bass Conservation Act in 1984. Maryland and Delaware imposed fishing moratoria from 1985 to 1989, and Virginia imposed a one-year moratorium in 1989. Although the fishery reopened in 1990 following three successful spawning years, it remains tightly restricted. "

[brendanc]

All wild caught rockfish are indeed tagged through the mouth with the state waters of origin. The current problems are more of a result in a cycle that has been in existence for some time. The lesions in question are a fungal infection that occurs in Bay stripers, however with a decline in the ecosystemic integrity we can assume that parasitic elements and depletions of populations across the board will continue to magnify. So where we might have a year or two with elevated fungal infections and then a down period, we may not witness that.

That being said, outside of the Bay rockfish is perfectly safe to eat, inside the Bay should be fine as well, but because of the impression of a shortage prices will continue to rise until other fisheries open. Think of Stripers as oil.