Fishing yield and chemical contamination of the water of the Billings Reservoir, S. Paulo (Brazil)

Abstract

Data on detergents and heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, copper, chromium, mercury and zinc are used in order to estimate pollution and sanitary quality of water as well as contamination of fish from Billings Reservoir, SP, Brazil. The results of this work are a warning with regard to the potential risk of human consumption of fish from that Reservoir, even though commercial fishing is now practically restricted to the riverheads of the affluents of the rivers Capivari and Pequeno near Ribeirão Pires and along the rivers Curucutu and Taquacetuba. Data from CEAGESP (Companhia de Entreposto de Armazéns Gerais do Estado de São Paulo) show that in 1980 only 64 tons of fish came from S. Bernardo do Campo.