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EPA ANNOUNCES 2ND ANNUAL FISHING DERBY AT CORNELL POND

Release Date: 09/23/1999
Contact Information: Alice Kaufman, EPA Community Affairs, 617-918-1064

Boston- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announces the 2nd Annual Fishing Derby on Saturday, September 25, 1999 from 7:00 A.M. - 12:30 P.M. at Cornell Pond in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts.

As part of the fish monitoring program at the Re-Solve, Inc. Superfund Site, twenty local fishermen with Massachusetts fishing licenses will participate in the derby at Cornell Pond. Roy F. Weston, Inc. contractor for the Re-Solve Site Group (the group responsible for the costs of cleaning up the Re-Solve Superfund Site) will sample the fish caught during the derby for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Weston will also be distributing awards to the fishermen.

"This derby will be good fun and helpful to our efforts. When EPA taps into local knowledge, time and again we are able to accomplish great things," said John P. DeVillars, EPA's New England regional administrator.

The objective of the derby is to collect three to five adult fish from five species, including Large Mouth Bass, Trout, Redfin Pickerel, Catfish/Bull Heads, and American Eel, and analyze the fish for PCB concentrations at a qualified laboratory.

The Cornell Pond Fishing Derby is a good opportunity for EPA to remind the local fishermen of the catch and release policy for fish caught from Cornell Pond and the Copicut River due to elevated levels of PCBs in fish. The fish advisory, issued by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, has been in effect since 1988.

If Saturday brings inclement weather, the derby will be held on Sunday, September 26, 1999. In 1994, the Re-Solve Site Group completed an innovative soil and sediment remedy utilizing a treatment technology called Low-Temperature Thermal Desorption, and in 1998 construction of a state-of-the-art groundwater treatment facility was completed. The fish monitoring is a portion of the environmental monitoring program at the Re-Solve Site which evaluates the clean-up's success. Recent fish monitoring data reveal a significant decline of PCB concentrations in fish at Cornell Pond.

The Re-Solve, Inc. Superfund Site is on North Hixville Road, North Dartmouth, MA and was listed as a Superfund Site in 1983 when extensive PCB and volatile organic compounds were discovered in the soil and groundwater.