great lake fish

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TheStar.com | Ontario | Great Lake fish alert: Watch what you eat

Jul 10, 2009 04:30 AM
Comments on this story (36)
Kenyon Wallace
Staff Reporter
As Ontarians flock to the Great Lakes for a little summer fishing, a new report is warning some categories of fish are unfit for consumption due to high levels of toxic chemicals found in their tissue.

"Fish are still great for our diets, but you need to watch what you eat," said Mike Layton of Environmental Defence, an author of the report.

"For the most part, eating a few small fish every month isn't a big deal but you should be cautious with larger fish that have had more time to accumulate higher concentrations of dangerous chemicals."

The report, entitled "Up to the Gills: 2009 Update on Pollution in Great Lakes Fish," brings together data from fish advisories published by the Ontario environment ministry between 2005 and 2009.

In many Great Lakes areas, high levels of mercury, PCBs, pesticides, dioxins and furanes were found in medium-sized and large fish (55 to 75 centimetres long) such as salmon, trout and carp.

Lake Huron catches showed some improvement but even there, cautions remained for larger fish.

Lake Ontario was less lucky, with 40 per cent of advisories saying eating certain fish in any quantity is unsafe. Many cautions targeted small and medium-sized fish, considered a disturbing trend.

"In the last two years, however, advisories for smaller fish in Lake Ontario levelled off," he said.

The "Up to the Gills" report can be seen at Environmental Defence's website.








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Do people really fish in Great Lakes
Why are the great lakes polluted? Well 9 stats and 1 province share these 5 connected lakes and all dumped non sense in it for the last 300 years. The lake will never be cleaned. People are forgetting that in and after WW2 Canada was exporting uranium for nuclear bombs to USA and all the low processed Uranium was just dumped into lakes where it was free to dump and hard to be found. Not to mention all the old shells still releasing mercury from 2 wars with America.

Submitted by DondaMagicJuan at 10:35 AM Friday, July 10 2009

 

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Toxic fish from Great Lakes won't make the best meal, report says
By Diana Mehta – 13 hours ago

TORONTO — If the huge trout you caught from one of the Great Lakes ends up on your dinner table you might be at risk from alarmingly high levels of toxins, says a new report from advocacy group Environmental Defence.

And at least four years of government data shows the condition of the fish isn't improving, according to the report released Friday. "It's something so subtle. You're not going to eat a piece of fish and suddenly get cancer," said Mike Layton, Environmental Defence program manager and one of the report's authors.

"Like the fish, it's going to accumulate in your own body."

The report, "Up to the Gills," focuses on toxic chemicals in Great Lakes fish by examining advisories published by the Ontario Ministry of Environment for eight species of fish in 13 locations across the Great Lakes.

Many fish were found to be partly or completely unfit for human consumption, with bigger fish being the worst for a meal. The toxins in the fish included mercury from coal-fired power plants, dioxins from industrial processes and pesticides.

Some species of fish around the Toronto area need to be avoided entirely, the report found. These include lake trout and large carp. Even small fish with lower levels of contaminants should only be consumed in certain amounts, said Layton.

The report also analyzed advisories from 2005 to 2009 and found that the condition of fish was not improving. Fish from the water bodies like Lake Superior had the lowest contamination level while Lake Ontario was the worst.

But that doesn't mean people should forego fish altogether.

"We just want people to be careful about where their fish comes from," Layton said.

A provincial publication - the Guide to Eating Ontario Sport Fish - was central to providing the report's data. The guide, which is published every other year, gives consumption advice for species tested in waterways across Ontario. The advice is based on health protection guidelines from Health Canada.

Layton said the guide, while useful, may not be getting into the right hands. Making the guide more accessible and distributing it to targeted groups who fish in problem spots is an important step that needs to be taken, he said.

Tackling the source of the problem by reducing pollution from industry, sewage systems, agriculture and urban run-off into the Great Lakes was also recommended.

The report also urged federal and provincial governments to update the Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The agreement, which was signed in 1972 to protect and restore the Great Lakes, has not been revised since 1978.

"We need to take immediate action, we need stronger government action," Layton said.

Ontario's Ministry of the Environment will examine the recommendations made by the report, said spokesperson Kate Jordan.

"We are a world leader in monitoring contaminants in sport fish," said Jordan, adding that the provincial consumption guide has specific advice for children and childbearing women.

The guide is available at numerous locations including bait and tackle shops, select liquor store outlets, Ontario travel offices, provincial parks and the ministry's website, said Jordan.

A generally stable trend has been noted for consumption advisories in Great Lakes fish, Jordan said. Releases of mercury into the Lakes have also declined by 88 per cent since 1988, she added.

The province has invested in upgrading five sewage treatment plants in Ontario as well as remediation of sediment in the Hamilton Harbour, among other efforts, said Jordan.

"We know there is more work to be done, that's why we're prepared to providing funding to clean up hot spots in the Great Lakes," she said.

Things may not be as bad as they seem, said the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters.

"We don't want to send out the 'sky is falling message.' There's a lot of good news that's being overshadowed here," said the federation's fisheries biologist Jeremy Holden.

Significant clean-up efforts around the province's lakes have left them in better shape than before, said Holden.

"There are a lot of healthy fish in the Great Lakes and a lot that provide unbelievable angling opportunities," he said. "We don't want to take the worst-case scenario and paint it across the province."

Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved

 

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2009 July 10 Email this news Print

Great Lakes Fish Advisories Show Pollution Levels High in Most Lakes
Report calls for action to reduce toxic chemicals

Great Lakes Fish Advisories Show Pollution Levels High in Most Lakes
Report calls for action to reduce toxic chemicals

Toronto – Levels of toxic chemicals in Great Lakes fish are alarmingly high, and are not improving, a report released today by Environmental Defence shows. The report was released to kick off Ontario Family Fishing Weekend, which runs from July 10 to July 12, 2009.

"Fish are still a great choice for our diets, but we need to make sure we are not exposing ourselves to high levels of harmful chemicals," said Mike Layton, Program Manager of Environmental Defence. "The problem will not just go away; we need to take action to protect and clean up our vital natural resources."

The report, Up to the Gills: 2009 Update on Pollution in Great Lakes Fish, analyzes the latest fish advisories published by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment for eight species of fish in 13 locations across the Great Lakes. Many categories of fish were found to be somewhat or completely unfit for human consumption. The report also looks at fish advisories over a period of time (2005 to 2009), and finds the situation is not improving.

The major chemical contaminants that cause consumption advisories for Great Lakes fish include mercury, PCBs, pesticides, dioxins and furans. Health effects of these chemicals include damage to the nervous, respiratory and immune system, as well as cancer.

While some lakes showed some improvements since 2005, such as Lake Huron, many areas remain very polluted. In Lake Ontario for example, 40% of the advisories examined in this report stated that it was unsafe to eat the affected fish in any quantity. Larger fish typically receive more severe advisories because they are generally older and have accumulated more toxins in their tissue but in Lake Ontario, even small sizes of fish are receiving the most severe advisories.

Almost 400,000 Canadian anglers fish the Great Lakes every year. The commercial and sport fishing industries are estimated to be worth $2.45 billion a year. While the report highlights the benefits of fish in a healthy balanced diet, it does caution consumers to watch what kinds of fish they eat and from where.

The governments of Canada and the United States recently announced that they will update the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the bi-national agreement in place to protect and restore the Great Lakes. First signed in 1972, the agreement has not been revised since 1978.

"A revised and much more improved water quality agreement is key to the sustainability of our Great Lakes," said Dr. Gail Krantzberg, Director of the Centre for Engineering and Public Policy and professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario specializing in Great Lakes Protection and regeneration. "Our governments need to act deliberately and with conviction on a number of urgent threats to make the Lakes great for present and future generations."

The report makes several recommendations on how to protect public health including:
• improving the information used in fish advisories;
• enhancing the delivery of fish advisories to high risk groups;
• preventing fish contamination advisories by reducing pollution from industry, sewage systems, agriculture and urban runoff; and
• enhancing the Canada-U.S. response to threats to fish in the Great Lakes.

Canadians are extremely concerned about the future of freshwater resources. A recent Nanos Research public opinion poll from July 2009 reported that 61 per cent of Canadians thought fresh water was the most important natural resource for Canada’s future over oil and gas (21 per cent), forestry (11 per cent) and fisheries (4 per cent). Forty per cent of respondents thought that pollution from industry, agriculture and households was the greatest threat to freshwater resources.

The report, Up to the Gills: 2009 Update on Pollution in Great Lakes Fish, is available to download for free at http://www.environmentaldefence.ca. The report includes a detailed map of fish consumption advisories over time in various regions across the Great Lakes.

About Environmental Defence: Environmental Defence protects the environment and human health. We research. We educate. We go to court when we have to. All in order to ensure clean air, safe food and thriving ecosystems. Nationwide. http://www.environmentaldefence.ca




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http://www.environmentaldefence.ca/repo ... 0Final.pdf
link to the report

 

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Thabks for the report.

Dirk