Effects of post-event event effluent on sea fishing

[Mortblanc]

Getting back to the OP, I read a good bit if mis-speculation in this thread.

Fish are not hesitant to swim in water until they die from pollution intake. If they had a built in pollution monitor there would be no worry about the radiation off the Japanese coast or any other intake of pollution. I have never discovered how to tell a sick fish from a healthy one until it turned belly up and just because it looks good today does not mean it would not have died during the night while carrying enough toxins to kill a human.

In fact, some species of fish are attracted to effluent discharge points and thrive on the residue, carp, sturgeon and catfish especially.

I live in an area 12 miles from one of North America's major rivers, the Ohio, and another large river of historical merit, the Licking River.
We are warned off of eating the fish out of the Ohio on a regular basis due to intake of pollution from heavy metals. We are also in a long term ban on eating fish from the final 40 miles of the Licking River due to effluent discharge pollution.

In both those areas the fish population is heavy and the fish appear healthy.

The largest heavy metal discharge is from agricultural pesticides and fertilizers. The largest effluent contaminators are the small towns along the Licking River that refuse to properly process their sewage.

The real salvation might come when you have your "big die off". Fewer people to contaminate will mean less effluent to go into the water table. No water system will mean no flushing of commodes and less liquid for the systems to process, for as long as they work.

This collapse of the water/sewer system will probably be the incident that triggers any "big die off" that occurs.

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As long as you maintain the population density you had during the middle ages you will still have the pollution problem to deal withm just as they did then. Which goes back to the custom of maintaining one's health by drinking beer/ale rather than water....