Fish Consumption Advisory on Bull Shoals, Norfork

[jdmidwest]

Let them big walleys go.  Mercury poison.  Bad stuff.  Put them back, they are polluted. 

And, when they die, the pollution will fall to the bottom of the lake for the suckers............

 

https://www.agfc.com/en/news/2023/01/25/fish-consumption-advisory-issued-for-bull-shoals-and-norfork-lakes/

[rps]

I am 73. By the time the mercury accumulates to toxic levels I will be buried.

[tjm]

I won't be 73 til May, but remember all them silver pennies we used to make with mercury from the thermometers we accidentally broke? and chasing balls of quicksilver across the table or floor to catch it and divide it then let it rejoin? Of course I don't fish Bull Shoals for walleye but if I did, I doubt I'd stop now.    

[fishinwrench]

Why only larger +18" Walleyes?   

Where does an adult walleye live, and what does it consume, that results in higher mercury levels than the other species in those bodies of water?

[tjm]

It's a cumulative thing where phytoplankton absorb the mercury and zooplankton eat them and are in turn eaten by small fish who get eaten by bigger fish, in the case of the top predators the older fish have been accumulating longer and therefore have more. I'd guess   that if they had tested some large old catfish or bass that they would also be on the watch list. Virtually all fresh water fish have Mercury contamination at potential danger levels for pregnant gals who eat fish daily. But those limits are set by the EPA rather than by a health authority, so who knows if they mean anything.

Quote

The freshwater fish most likely to contain harmful amounts of mercury include smallmouth bass, walleye, largemouth bass, lake trout and Northern pike.

 

[fishinwrench]

I always kinda figured that White bass were among the safest to consume.   Their rather short lifespan combined with the fact that they are rather pelagic open water inhabitants just seems like they'd be less likely to be tainted.   

That's one of the reasons why I'm such a cranky ol'fart about the introduction of hybrid stripers, and their incessant polluting of the gene pool.   

[jdmidwest]

Or, it could just be a way to increase the fish population by getting anglers to turn them back.

[tjm]

Mercury contamination is a thing.

Quote

US government scientists tested fish in 291 streams around the country for mercury contamination. They found mercury in every fish tested, according to the study by the U.S. Department of the Interior. They found mercury even in fish of isolated rural waterways. 25% of the fish tested had mercury levels above the safety levels determined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for people who eat the fish regularly.

 

[fishinwrench]

3 hours ago, tjm said:

Mercury contamination is a thing.

 

Do they ever test chicken, beef, or pork ?

[fishinwrench]

7 hours ago, jdmidwest said:

Or, it could just be a way to increase the fish population by getting anglers to turn them back.

I'd say that's quite likely considering the warning is Walleye specific.    

I mean, c'mon 🙄