Massachusetts has always been a state closely tied to fishing and the fishing industry. Many of the first settlers came to these shores because of the abundance of seafood off of coastal Massachusetts and the many rivers and waterways that were home to huge numbers of native fish species. People have been fishing these waters for hundreds of years.

I grew up a few miles from the Ipswich River that flows through the towns north of Boston. One of my brothers was an avid fisherman from an early age, and he learned how to fish by spending many an early morning on the banks or peacefully settled in a small boat on that river. He used to catch pickerel, yellow perch, sunfish and the native catfish, called “horned pout.” The State Division of Wildlife would stock the river in the spring with rainbow trout, and that attracted a lot of fishermen to the area.

People still fish on the Ipswich River, but now there are warnings about actually eating the catch:

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has issued an advisory that mercury in fish caught in the Ipswich River may pose a public health threat. Detected mercury levels fell below the Food and Drug Administration Action Level of 1.0 mg/kg, but within a level that may pose a concern to certain individuals. MDPH recommends that children under 12, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and women who may become pregnant refrain from consuming any fish from the Ipswich River. All others should limit consumption to two meals per month.

Senator Kerry told the Quincy Patriot Ledger in a recent video interview that he had to give up eating Massachusetts seafood because of the high mercury contamination levels. Imagine that — a state that originally drew so many settlers because of the abundance of fresh and salt-water fish now has health warnings up against eating too much fish because of high mercury levels.

There are many people who have spent a great deal of time and effort to clean up and restore the waterways in Massachusetts. The Ipswich River Watershed Association has a website that chronicles how much has been done to restore the Ipswich River area. This has been an ongoing project that has involved the work of a lot of volunteers who have given a lot of their time and effort to restore and enhance the beauty of this area.

The mercury pollution that gets into these rivers and streams comes into New England from factory and industrial emissions carried into this area from other states. We need a better partnership with federal agencies and more supervision and oversight on industrial emissions to protect our waterways and ensure that the fish that are caught here are safe to eat. We need a Congress, and a President, who think that clean water and a renewed commitment to a clean environment is a high priority for this nation.

Those who fish in Massachusetts and New England waters shouldn’t have to worry about the pollution and mercury content in the fish that they catch. We need more people in Washington who understand that. We need more leadership in the Congress from people who will get tough with polluters, and who will really work to clean up our rivers and streams.

The volunteers who work so hard to restore these vital natural areas understand that. We need a Congress, and a President, who understand that as well.