Great Lakes Fish Getting Worse

[ccmtcanada]

Found this online in today's Toronto Star website. This is why I dont keep anything out of Lake Ontario....anyone surprised by this revelation???

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Great Lakes fish getting worse: Study

Jul 05, 2007 11:36 AM Catherine Porter

Environment Reporter

 

Toxins that once only surfaced in big fish are making their way down the food chain, a sign that the Great Lakes are getting even more polluted, a new report says.

 

In the past two years, smaller sizes of salmon, trout and carp have been slapped with strict consumption warnings - and some with outright bans - in many areas of the Great Lakes and particularly in Lake Ontario.

 

"In Lake Ontario, between 2005 and 2007, you had eight categories of advisories getting worse and just one improving. As bad as the situation is, you've got a trend line that's getting worse," said Aaron Freeman, policy director of the advocacy group Environmental Defence and the author of the report entitled “Up to the Gills.”

 

Warnings about eating fish longer than 75 centimetres have been in place for years, as they accumulate toxics like mercury and furans in their fat over years. Now, fish around 55 centimetres long, which haven't had as much time to accumulate toxins, are starting to show dangerous levels. That's a sign that pollution has become more widespread, the report says.

 

"We need to reduce the amount of pollution going into lakes," said Freeman. "We have to stop dumping raw sewage. We have to limit industrial and agricultural pollution into the lakes because we're seeing higher and higher levels as indicated by the advisories."

 

The fish in Lake Ontario are the most contaminated, a sign that it's the most polluted of the Great Lakes. That's not only because it has the most industry, but also that it receives water - and therefore pollution - from all the other lakes.

 

"Ontario has the perfect storm," said Freeman

 

http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/Environ.../article/232782

Edited July 5, 2007 by ccmtcanada

[Mike Pike]

Not good news there.

 

I don't eat many trout and salmon from Lake Ontario because I don't like the way they taste compared to other fish from other waters. So, not eating fish from Lake Ontario won't put much of a burden on me.

 

Although it seems like most of our waters are improving in quality, it sounds like some still aren't.

[ccmtcanada]

I remember back in the 70's when the mercury content in fish was so high they were warning people almost daily on the radio and TV not to eat any fish caught in Lake Ontario. Although great strides have been accomplished since then, it seems we are on the downside again. Those memories of he 70's will be with me forever, and I dont think I'd ever be comfortable eating fish from there...sad really...

[LeXXington]

Found this online in today's Toronto Star website. This is why I dont keep anything out of Lake Ontario....anyone surprised by this revelation???

 

I read this and found a couple things of note..

 

1. Written by policy director of the advocacy group Environmental Defence and the author of the report .. So of course he is not going to say all is super good.

 

2. Warnings about eating fish longer than 75 centimetres have been in place for years, as they accumulate toxics like mercury and furans in their fat over years. Now, fish around 55 centimetres long, .... Thats a super huge fish !!

 

3. http://www.ec.gc.ca/MERCURY/EN/efca.cfm --- a more equal report.

 

 

Eating fatty fish such as Salmon its a balance between what is good and what is not. These days even eating food brought in from China has risks.

 

 

Now from a personal view..

 

I only eat the small fish for safety and too keep the population going.

I think the lakes are cleaner now than before

There is more monitoring and tougher standards now so its getting better.

The fish are getting bigger now due to bait so lots of fish have higher merc.

 

Just $.0000002 for thoughts.

[pigeonfisher]

55cm is not a very big salmon, I don't think?

 

You guys know more about that than I do. But how much would a 23" salmon weigh?

[ccmtcanada]

Pigeonfisher: 55cm is only 21 inches, not big for a salmon.

 

Lexxington...I agree with all you are saying. I'm confident that the lakes are overall getting better as well, but for me personally, after hearing about the contaminants constantly in the news in the 70's, the governments penchant for not telling full truths, and a school study on the Minamata Disease, I'll always be leary...even if the reports said 0 levels of mercury. That's just me...Mr Paraniod of toxins...LOL.

Edited July 5, 2007 by ccmtcanada

[bowshep]

If you can smell the water don't eat the fish. Lake Nippissing smells like lake O durring shadefly season but that go's away. Lake O is a mess this is not new stuff. Just in road salt alone lake O is taking a Beating but eveyone will blame Big Brother as they fire a cig. butt into the water or beleave that all season radials are for the winter. l can rant for ever on this ... Peace Ken

[LeXXington]

I hear ya on that one CCM, these days there is so much on the enviorment and what is good what is bad, Its hard to get a straight responce. I just always put up the guard when the "director of the advocacy group Environmental Defence and the author"

 

You know who he is writting for, now if it was a unbiased report from 3 independant sources. Ok I would look harder at the report.

 

Today don't eat the fish, tommorow we need to eat more fish. I think its somewhere in between. There are too many "the sky is falling reports these days"

 

Sorry 55CM was a small salmon brain fart though in inches. still a 21" salmon is still a good meal

[FishFinder]

I dont think I'd ever be comfortable eating fish from there...sad really...

rainbows caught in lake ontario tribs are still lake Ontario fish..

 

55cm is not a very big salmon, I don't think?

 

You guys know more about that than I do. But how much would a 23" salmon weigh?

 

and a 21 inch salmon cant be more than a few pounds

[Nater]

Ya CCMT all the fish bonked outa the creeks this year spend all their lives for the most part out in Lake Ontario and are just as bad even in the creeks as they are out in the lake

 

Maybe people will kill less fish now I think it's sad the lack of knowledge that people have in regards to where creek fish come from

 

Nate

[Fishmaster]

Cows , Pigs , Chickens , Turkeys , Fruits , Veggies , all bad for you ...but i would eat fish anyday over force feed animals or pestiside growing products ..

[ccmtcanada]

I hear you Nate and Fishfinder...I kept a grand total of 2 trout from the tribs this year...I gave them away to people who I knew wanted some for their table. Even still...they were not BIG fish.

 

The problem with taking lots from the tribs is that some people are just harvesting roe and not necessarily eating them.

[POLLIWOGG]

I suspect the curly light bulb will be the next environmental disaster.

[danbouck]

Is it getting this bad in Erie too?

[tonyb]

I find it funny that people are so skittish about eating fish from L. Ontario. Check and see how much Mercury is in the tuna sandwich you just fed your kids, then all of a sudden, a small salmon from L. Ontario is a much more attractive option.

 

http://www.pbs.org/now/science/mercuryinfish.html

 

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/20...na-testing.html

 

Tony

Edited July 5, 2007 by tonyb

[fishindevil]

well i am on lake ontario alot maybe 50 times per year ,maybe more,and it is in a mess....but its alot cleaner now than it was 25yrs ago,and i do see less garbage but yes the damage is already been done,some of those chemicals will take 100yrs to breakdown,so it will filter through the food chain for a long time yet......and THE ROAD SALT IS KILLING THE LAKE TOO,MILLIONS OF TONS OF IT ARE DUMPED EVERY WINTER,and it all goes into the lake..like the above member said we could all go on for hours.....but i do think its looking better than it was....and the fish dont have like burns and ugly sores like they used to too,

[ccmtcanada]

Wow Tony...interesting read. I knew there was a reason I dont eat canned tuna...LOL. For me, it's just the power of the media...and it worked.

 

I know it's unrealistic to avoid contanimants in foods, but back in the 70's at around the same time, I heard the advisories for Lake O fish AND we just studied the Minamata Disease in school. I put two and two together and it just kind of stuck.

 

Just one of my goofy quirks! LOL

[addict]

we are all guilty off polluting its a sad reality man is such a destructive force to the world with are cars and are boats and are chrome plated lures to taking a crap and flushing its endless really. personally i think that the world is just to over poppulated and change for the better seems almost impossible i try not to dwell on this and hope one day we can be a green world.as for eating fish i keep one or two pan sized trout each season.cant be any worse than mc ds or other processed crap they feed us.

[Tacklebuster]

Just yesterday I heard a report on the CBC news that the gov. is implementing a ban that is effective in 2010, to stop the cruise lines in the St. Lawrence from dumping their raw sewage in the river. And then there is Le Farge who is going to start burning tires for their production of concrete....ARE YOU KIDDING ME...this is Canada's response to Kyoto.

[Greencoachdog]

Just one of my goofy quirks! LOL

 

 

... and you call me Strange and Wierd???

 

... so all the other Great Lakes drain into Lake O., wouldn't that make Lake O the toilet bowl of the great lakes?... and the St. Lawrence the field line?

 

Mercury is good for ya... it makes your sticker peck out!... ever see one of those old timey thermometers rise in the summer?

[Fish Farmer]

Just look north of Toronto compared to 20 years ago. All those toilets are flushed were.

[Golfisher]

Just yesterday I heard a report on the CBC news that the gov. is implementing a ban that is effective in 2010, to stop the cruise lines in the St. Lawrence from dumping their raw sewage in the river.

 

That is one disturbing news. Never imagined such things could be going on in this age and time.

[Tybo]

So if I'm the guy that does the studies on the great lakes and say everything is

honky Dorey.

How long do you think my department would be budgeted by the govt,

 

I've been eating fish out of lake O since the sixties.

 

 

My job will kill me first!