For the 2012 season, Ohio has relaxed fish consumption advisories in four water bodies and added more strict limits in 10 waterways.
This year’s fish consumption advisory contains updates to 15 locations based on detections from samples that were taken from 14 lakes and reservoirs and 18 streams in 2010.
Ohio EPA also did microcystin sampling in Grand Lake Saint Marys and Lake Erie during the 2011 season to determine if fish were affected by algal toxin. All samples taken in Lake Erie in November 2010, June 2011 and August 2011, testing yellow perch and walleye showed no detections. Grand Lake Saint Marys samples were also taken in November, June and August, and only the June sample set showed a detection level, only in Black Crappie. To round out the limited data available, Ohio EPA plans to continue sampling, and will evaluate and post updates as they become available.
All Ohio fish advisories can be found on Ohio EPA’s website at http://www.epa.ohio.gov/dsw/fishadvisory/index.aspx or call (614) 644-2160 to request a copy. Fish consumption advisory contact information will be provided to anglers in the Ohio Fishing Regulations booklet with fishing license purchase beginning on March 1, 2012.
More detailed information about fish consumption can be found at Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) Centers, local health departments, Ohio Department of Natural Resources district offices and Ohio EPA offices.
Ohio EPA partners with the Ohio Department of Health and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to develop consumption advisories for fish caught in Ohio. Fish consumption advisories are updated annually based on processed samples collected during the previous fishing season.
For the latest advisory, Ohio EPA and ODNR evaluated 460 samples. The information helps Ohio’s fishing community make informed decisions about consuming their catch. To learn more about fishing and shellfish purchased outside of Ohio, please visit the federal government website: www.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/sea-mehg.html.
A statewide advisory of one fish meal per week continues for all fish not otherwise mentioned due to mercury found in state fish tissue samples. Mercury poses the greatest health risk for women of child- bearing age, pregnant and nursing mothers and children under 15. Fish contaminated with high levels of mercury have been shown to cause neurological damage and impaired development of young children.
Places where you can eat more fish:
Ottawa River (Lucas County) – A do not eat advisory in place since 1991 has been changed to one meal per week advisories for all species of fish upstream of Secor Road at University of Toledo, and upstream of Auburn Avenue for all species other than common carp, which has a one meal per month advisory from Main Street in Sylvania to Secor Road at the University of Toledo. The do not eat advisory remains in place from Auburn Avenue to the mouth of the Ottawa at Lake Erie, due to PCB contamination. Ohio EPA and U.S. EPA conducted remedial dredging in 2010 to address remaining PCB contamination and plan to evaluate the effectiveness of the project in reducing PCB concentrations in fish tissue during the 2014 season.
Caesar Creek Lake – lower mercury levels allow two fish meals per week for largemouth bass.
LaDue Reservoir – lower mercury levels allow two fish meals per week for brown bullhead and largemouth bass.
Mill Creek (Union County) – lower mercury levels allow two fish meals per week for saugeye from State Route 36 to the Scioto River.
Stricter limits have been recommended for safely consuming fish in the following water bodies:
Cross Creek (Jefferson County) – one meal per month for channel catfish due to mercury and PCBs, and freshwater drum and smallmouth bass due to mercury from Reed Mill Road to the Ohio River.
Great Miami River:
The river section downstream of Indian Lake to Lowhead Dam at Monument Avenue in Dayton – one meal per month for common carp; a channel catfish and flathead catfish advisory is due to PCBs; and an advisory for largemouth bass, saugeye, smallmouth bass and white bass is due to mercury.
The river section from the Lowhead Dam at Monument Avenue in Dayton to State Route 73 near Middletown – do not eat for all suckers due to PCBs; one meal per month for flathead catfish due to mercury and PCBs; common carp and channel catfish are affected by only PCBs; and largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, white bass and saugeye are affected by mercury.
The river section from State Route 73 near Middletown to Harrison Pike in Miamitown – a do not eat advisory remains in place for all suckers due to PCBs; one meal every two months Is advised for hybrid striped bass due to PCBs and lead; one meal per month for flathead catfish due to mercury and PCBs; one meal per month for channel catfish, common carp, freshwater drum, and smallmouth buffalo due to PCBs; and one meal per month for largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, white bass and saugeye due to mercury.
Area from Harrison Pike in Miamitown to the Ohio River – a do not eat advisory remains in place for all suckers due to PCBs; one meal every two months for hybrid striped bass due to PCBs and lead; one meal per month for flathead catfish due to mercury and PCBs; one meal per month for channel catfish, common carp, freshwater drum and smallmouth buffalo due to PCBs; and one meal per month for largemouth bass 15 inches and over, saugeye and white bass due to mercury.
Lake Erie:
one meal every two months for common carp 27 inches and over due to PCBs;
one meal per month for channel catfish, common carp less than 27 inches, freshwater drum, lake trout, smallmouth bass, steelhead trout, white bass, whitefish and white perch due to PCBs;
one meal per month for brown bullhead due to mercury;
Walleye and yellow perch remain under the statewide advisory of one meal per week.
Little Scioto River (Southeast Ohio) – one meal per month for channel catfish due to mercury and PCBs, and rock bass, smallmouth bass, and spotted bass due to mercury from Millstone Road to the Ohio River.
Mill Creek (Cincinnati) from Interstate 275 to the Ohio River – one meal per month for striped bass hybrids for PCBs.
Ottawa River (Lima) from Cool Road to the Auglaize River – one meal per month for rock bass due to mercury.
Pine Creek ( Southern Ohio) from Monroe Road to the Ohio River – one meal per month for sauger and spotted bass due to mercury.
Sandy Creek from Stump Road to the mouth – one meal per month for smallmouth bass due to mercury and PCBs and common carp and rock bass due to PCBs.
Scioto River (upper section)
U.S. Route 68 in Kenton to Ostrander Road in Warrensburg – one meal per month for flathead catfish 21 inches and over due to PCBs, and for saugeye 19 inches and over and northern pike due to mercury;
Ostrander Road in Warrensburg to State Route 762 in South Bloomfield – one meal per month advisories for flathead catfish due to mercury and PCBs, and for saugeye 19 inches and over due to mercury;
State Route 762 in South Bloomfield to U.S. Route 35 in Chillicothe – one meal per month for flathead catfish 21 inches and over, and white bass 11 inches and over due to PCBs and for saugeye 15 inches and over, saugeye 19 inches and over and smallmouth bass 12 inches and over due to mercury.
South Branch Portage River from Defiance Pike to the river mouth – one meal per month for common carp due to PCBs.