2009-2010 Guide to Eating Ontario Sport Fish now available

[Spiel]

2009-2010 Guide to Eating Ontario Sport Fish now available

 

 

 

The 2009-2010 edition of the Guide to Eating Ontario Sport Fish is now available to help anglers decide how much fish they can safely eat from 1,860 bodies of water in the province.

This edition of the Guide, the 25th, has added approximately 100 new locations.

 

Fish can be an important and healthy part of anyone’s diet but can contain varying levels of contaminants. The consumption levels recommended in the Guide help anglers and others who consume those fish make healthy choices about fish consumption.

 

The Guide uses Health Canada guidelines to produce useful, easily understood recommendations on how much fish a person should eat, based on meals per month. The recommended consumption levels are divided into two groupings: one for women of child-bearing years and children under 15, and another for the general population.

 

While the Guide does not analyse whether contaminant levels in fish are changing, general trends can be observed. Compared to the last edition of the Guide, the 2009-2010 Guide shows:

 

- A modest improvement for the Great Lakes, with a slight overall decrease in consumption restrictions which results in an increased amount of fish that can be safely consumed. Overall, the consumption restrictions for inland lakes stayed the same;

 

- An evident trend towards lower concentrations of most contaminants such as PCBs, dioxins, mirex, toxaphene and other persistent pesticides. Mercury in the Great Lakes is also generally declining but concentrations from inland lakes appear unchanged in most cases.

 

The Guide is available on the MOE website and at the MNR display at the Toronto Sportsmen’s Show March 18 – 22. It will soon be available at selected LCBO stores, bait and tackle outlets, Wal-Mart and Canadian Tire stores, Ontario Travel and Tourism Offices, Service Ontario outlets and other government offices.

 

Copies may also be obtained from:

 

 

Ministry of the Environment

Sport Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program

125 Resources Road

Etobicoke, ON

M9P 3V6

 

Website: ontario.ca/fishguide

E-mail: [email protected]

Tel: (416) 327-6816

or Toll Free 1-800-820-2716

 

 

Ministry of the Environment

Public Information Centre

135 St. Clair Avenue West

Toronto, Ontario

M4V 1P5

Tel: 416-325-4000

Or Toll Free1-800-565-4923

Fax: 416-325-3159

E-mail: [email protected]