GALVESTON — A state advisory warning people against eating too much spotted sea trout and catfish from Galveston Bay and surrounding bays could hurt fishing guides and bait camps that rely on business from anglers.

The Texas Department of State Health Services issued an advisory Tuesday saying people should eat no more than 8 ounces a month of trout, commonly called speckled trout, or catfish caught in Galveston Bay, Chocolate Bay, East and West bays and Trinity Bay, said Emily Palmer, department spokeswoman.

Pregnant women, women who are nursing or who may become pregnant and children should not eat catfish or speckled trout caught in those waters.

Other bay seafood is safe, Palmer said. Speckled trout and bay catfish are not commonly sold in restaurants or stores, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.

Speckled trout, is one of the most sought after fish to eat in Galveston Bay, said Mike LaRue, a fishing guide.

“They taste good, they’re plentiful and they’re fun to catch,” said LaRue, who along with three other anglers snagged 14 speckled trout Tuesday.

Bay catfish, often considered a “trash fish” by some anglers, are not as popular to eat, LaRue said.

While the state advisory does not prohibit catching or possessing either fish species, the contaminants in speckled trout could deter anglers from spending money to catch them.

Since 1990, the state has warned consumers against eating speckled trout in Galveston Bay and the Houston Ship Channel because of elevated levels of PCBs, toxins that can cause cancer, liver complications and problems with immune, reproductive or developmental systems.

On Tuesday, the state expanded its warning to other area bays. The advisory also warned against another toxin, commonly called dioxin, an unintended byproduct from industrial and chemical processes.

The advisories could inhibit fishing in the bays if anglers heeded the warning about eating the fish, but LaRue said he doubted that would happen.

“I don’t think it’s going to stop some people from eating it,” he said. “I think it’s sad and I think it’s a shame, but I think the real sad part is that nobody is going to do anything about it.

“It’s not going to stop ‘Bubba’ from going out and filling up a cooler (with fish), not one bit.”

LaRue, who won’t eat the fish, said he has for years warned his customers about eating speckled trout caught in the Houston Ship Channel. He plans to extend his warning to all local bays now, he said.

Other seafood lovers say the warnings won’t stop them from their almost daily diets of speckled trout.

Tom Boulware, a 65-year-old angler who lives in Jamaica Beach, said he’s been eating his own freshly caught speckled trout for more than 30 years.

“I’m not a biologist or a scientist or anything,” he said. “I’m not one to say ‘Hey this is baloney.’ I don’t know. I’ll just wait to see what comes to pass.”

Boulware said he cooked a speckled trout for dinner Monday night and ate the leftovers Tuesday after reading about the advisory.

Becky Smith, the owner of West Bay Bait and Tackle, said she won’t stop eating the fish either. She and her husband eat speckled trout from the bay at least once a week. Her only health problem? A bum knee from climbing too many stairs, she said.

Still, Smith said the advisory could drive away some visiting anglers who normally would patronize her bait camp before heading out onto the bay to catch speckled trout. The loss of customers because of the advisory would be an especially hard hit for the business that’s already reeling from high fuel prices, she said.

“It’s bad enough with gas so high fisherman won’t even go out,” she said.

Smith said she’s taking the advisory with a “grain of salt” and questioned the study that prompted the warning.

She wants to know why other fish in the bay aren’t affected by the toxins when they swim and eat in the same water.

The state tested other fish species such as red drum, black drum and flounder, and found them safe to eat. Mahi-mahi, mullet, crawfish, stone crab, farmed oysters, gulf shrimp and lane snapper are also good choices for Texas seafood lovers, said Chris Smith, the state spokeswoman for the Environmental Defense Fund.

PCBs, common toxins in fish, are industrial chemicals once used as coolants and lubricants in electrical transformers and capacitors. The U.S. Environmental Defense Fund banned PCBs in 1979, but items containing PCBs did not have to be replaced. PCBs degrade slowly in the environment.

Long-term consumption of PCBs could cause cancer and reproductive, immune system, developmental and liver problems. Dioxins can cause skin rashes, liver damage, weight loss, reproductive damage and might increase the risk of cancer.

The toxins do not pose a threat to other recreational uses of the bay, such as swimming or other contact recreational activities.