A warning about Sudbury River

Regional planners are launching an ambitious public education project to warn area residents, including low-income immigrant fishermen and their families, that the Sudbury River is contaminated with unacceptable levels of mercury. Read more here.

Anecdotal reports suggest that most of the anglers along the river - which passes through Ashland, Framingham, Southborough, Sudbury, and Wayland - are not native English speakers and are fishing for food. Recently awarded grant money will be used to hire an environmental consultant, who may turn to translators fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, and Russian to speak with fishermen about the best way to educate their ethnic groups about the dangers.

"Our concern is: How do we reach these groups?" one official said. "We also need to reach the medical community and let them know their patients - and their children - could be eating mercury-contaminated fish."