IV-444 



Commercial fishing, recreation, and water supply are the major 

 uses restricted by pollution from liquid waste discharges. 



Commercial Fishing 



Fisheries may be affected adversely either by damage to fishery 

 resources or by imposing a public health hazard which makes the 

 harvestable product unsafe. The fishery resource, whether finfish 

 or shellfish, may be damaged by the direct killing of marketable 

 species, by the killing or poisoning of a necessary food supply, 

 or by damage to the reproductive capability of any part of the 

 food chain. Any or all of these may occur, depending on the waste 

 discharge characteristics. 



Oysters, mussels, and clams are susceptible to these damages; in 

 addition, their meats may be made unsafe for human consumption by the 

 suspected presence of wastes containing pathogenic organics or toxic 

 materials which such animals tend to concentrate in their tissues. 

 It is important to recognize that the conflict in use arises from 

 the inability to market the shellfish product because of necessary 

 public health considerations, and that there may be no damage at all 

 to the shellfish habitat, particularly if the waste is treated 

 domestic sewage, which contains excellent nutrients for shellfish. 



Recreation 



Liquid wastes may have restrictive impacts on both body contact 



and non-contact forms of recreation. The invisible dangers of 



