Warnings issued for safe consumption of fish from local lakes

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — If you're a pregnant woman with a ravenous craving that won't be satisfied by anything except a 20-inch trout from Navajo Reservoir, decide now whether you want your monthly limit of mercury in one meal or spread across four weeks.

It's not a joke.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its National Listing of Fish Advisories last week which shows states, tribes and territories issued 3,221 fish advisories for 2004 compared to 3,089 advisories in 2003. EPA says the increase is due to more monitoring activity by states. Only Wyoming and Alaska issued no advisories.

According to EPA, the advisories alert residents to the potential health risks of eating contaminated fish caught in lakes, rivers and coastal waters, and do not pertain to commercial fishing.

Despite the increase in advisories, EPA's database also showed that the number of safe-eating guidelines issued by states also is on the rise. Safe-eating guidelines inform the public that fish from specific bodies of water or species of fish are safe to eat.

Each state sets its own criteria and decides which bodies of water to monitor. States do not always monitor the same bodies of water from year to year. Fish advisories are voluntary recommendations and are not governed by federal regulations.

A fish advisory often is issued because of pollutants that have lingered in the environment for long periods, sometimes decades, even though they are no longer used, or their use has been significantly curtailed.

These pollutants include PCB's chlordane, DDT, mercury and dioxin. Mercury emissions have declined more than 45 percent since 1990, according to EPA, which this year issued the first-ever regulations, the Clean Air Mercury Rule, to control mercury emissions from power plants by 70 percent.

Production of PCBs for use ceased in 1997; chlordane was banned in 1988; DDT was banned in 1972. EPA says dioxin emissions from industry have been reduced about 90 percent from 1987 levels. However, EPA also said the number of dioxin advisories increased from 90 in 2003 to 106 in 2004.

The New Mexico Environment Department first issued guidelines for Navajo Reservoir in 1991 and San Juan River in 1992. NMED said the guidelines were issued because mercury had been found in some fish at concentrations which could lead to significant adverse human health effects.

Ingestion of mercury at levels found in some of the fish over a long period of time could result in problems such as kidney and/or eye disease, diseases of the respiratory tract and nervous system, or brain damage, according to NMED.

The agency stressed that there are currently no legal restrictions due to mercury or catching or eating fish from the state's lakes or streams. There are only guidelines to help families make an informed decision as to what fish they can safely eat.

Fish from Navajo Reservoir fall into all four groups of NMED's updated guidelines. For example, bass 13 inches long are listed in Group 1 Fish: Pregnant women should eat no more than one meal a month of fish of this size. No other restrictions apply.

Bass 13 to 16 inches long are classified as Group 2 Fish: Fish of this size should not be eaten by pregnant or breast-feeding women, women who plan to have children, or anyone under 18 years of age. Everyone else should eat no more than 26 meals of these fish in a year, and no more than 13 of the 26 meals should be eaten in one month. The remaining meals should be evenly spaced over the remainder of the year, according to EPA.

Bass 16 to 17 inches long are listed as Group 3 Fish: Fish of this size should not be eaten by pregnant or breast-feeding women, women who plan to have children, or anyone under 18. Everyone else should eat no more than 13 meals of these fish per year, with no more than seven of the 13 meals in any single month. The remaining meals should be evenly spaced over the remainder of the year.

Bass greater than 17 inches in size are termed Group 4 Fish: Fish of this size should not be eaten by anyone, according to EPA. To determine length, after catching a fish, measure it from the tip of its nose to the end of the tail, EPA advises.

Local water bodies named in the mercury advisories include: Elephant Butte Reservoir, Heron Reservoir, Springer Lake, Sumner and Ute reservoirs, and in the San Juan River, the Hammond Diversion to the Hogback, Hogback to Cudei, Cudei to the mouth of the Mancos River.

Advisories issued for Arizona include: Upper and Lower Lake Mary in Coconino County, where residents are warned not to consume walleye and to limit consumption of other fish to one 8-ounce fillet per month. Trout are not included in the advisory.

Soldier Lake and Soldier Annex also located in Coconino County have advisories warning, "Do not consume fish" due to mercury content. Sources are to be investigated.