Buffalo State student looking to make fishing safer for refugees

The Niagara River has come a long way over the past couple of decades, but pollution is still a problem.

“The PCBs and the dioxins in the river, they get into the fish,” said Jethro Soudant.

There is regular information about what fish are safe to eat, the State Department of Health provides that on its website. 

Soudant, a student at Buffalo State is trying to make that information more readily available along the Niagara River.

“Even within the Burmese community here in Buffalo, there are four different languages spoken,” said Soudant.

Soudant wants to make it easier for people in Buffalo, particularly refugees, to understand that regularly eating certain fish from the river could lead to major health problems.  

“Carp is one that is one of the worst category. They're big. They're fatty. They're bottom feeders, so they're just sucking up all that sludge,” said Soudant.

The signs would mainly be an info-graphic. Soudant says he doesn't want to see a new family to this country get sick because of a lack of information.

“All the hurtles you have to go through and then at the last minute, eating poisonous fish because no one wanted to tell you about it,” said Soudant.

There are still a couple of hoops Soudant needs to go through. He's received a small federal grant.
Now, he just needs to get Buffalo Common Council to approve his plan.