Study Finds Fewer Fish With Tumors in Buffalo River

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A portion of the Buffalo River is set to be removed from another environmental watch list after decades of restoration work and efforts to clean up pollution from the city’s industrial past.

The river, from Cazenovia Creek to Canalside, is an EPA-designated Area of ​​Concern or AOC because heavy metals, primarily lead and mercury, and man-made chemicals such as PCBs and PAHs, once lined the riverbed.

In 1989, the river was hit with a BUI (Beneficial Use Impairment) for fish tumors and other malformations that were the result of a group of chemicals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs.

A new study from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), however, indicates that the fish population may be in good enough shape to remove the BUI designation.

“We did the work that needed to be done to remove the threat of toxic contamination from this river and now we see the river itself beginning to recover along with the fish and wildlife that live there,” said Jill Jedlicka, executive director of Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper.

The river has come back from the “brink of death,” Jedlicka said, thanks to the removal of 1 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment and the restoration of 2 miles of shoreline.

For their study, the DEC collected 50 brown bullheads of similar ages from four areas along the Buffalo River and the city’s Ship Canal in 2021.

These fish were then compared to roughly the same number of fish caught at a control site in 2019 in Long Point Inner Bay, Ontario, which the report says is considered relatively pristine.

Of the 97 fish collected in total, five had tumors. Three of these were from the Buffalo River and two from the control site.

“We’re seeing that young wild animals, fish that are 3 to 5 years old, are at lower risk of tumors and health effects because we’ve now restored their environment and they’re no longer exposed to these toxins,” Jedlicka said.

The results of the study and other analyses as documented in a final report were the primary considerations in removing beneficial utility or impairment of beneficial use for fish tumors and other deformities, but that was not all.

The Department of Environmental Conservation is seeking public comment on its findings and the proposed removal of the BUI on Tuesday, July 30, at the Buffalo Downtown Library, 1 Lafayette Square, from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Jedlicka added: “The removal of this BUI is just another step in restoring this area of ​​concern. We started with nine BUIs and after this one is removed we will have only three.”

In the next few years, she said, the Buffalo River could be removed entirely from the list of federal areas of concern if environmental signs continue to indicate progress, but…

“That doesn’t mean we stop moving forward, we have to be stewards and continue to watch over this river for the next generation.”