Cleveland Ohio

Conserving, protecting and restoring North America's cold water fisheries and their watersheds.
  Chapter News    
CONGRESS MOVES ON MAJOR
ENVIRONMENT MATTERS

Earlier this year, the U.S. House and Senate passed major policy measures related to clean water and climate change. The full House passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which in addition to curbing pollution that causes global warming, provides funding to help safeguard America’s lands, waters and wildlife from the impact of climate change.

The measure will help reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, enhance sequestration of carbon and provide funding for fish and wildlife projects to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Coldwater fish throughout the country have been affected by the impacts of climate change including warming waters, droughts, fire and floods.

Hunting, fishing and conservation groups lauded passage of the bill. "Trout and salmon, waterfowl and upland game birds are at ground zero for adverse impacts of climate change," says Steve Moyer, TU’s vice president for government affairs, who represented TU in supporting the bill. "One of the best things about this bill is that it gives our state, federal and tribal agencies the guidance and resources they need to protect and restore the forests, lakes, wetlands, rivers and other habitats that fish and wildlife need to survive in the face of a changing climate."

Earlier in the summer, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved the Clean Water Restoration Act, a move also hailed by conservation and sporting groups.

[The] CWRA [Clean Water Restoration Act] would restore the original intent of the Clean Water Act, which in recent years has been weakened by Supreme Court rulings that distorted the language of the law and drastically reduced its scope. The Resulting legal confusion has stripped Clean Water Act protections for some 20 million acres of wetlands and millions of miles of streams.

"This is a great step forward in restoring common sense protection to our nation’s waterways and wildlife habitat," says Chris Wood, TU’s chief operating officer.

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Latest Fish Advisory Announcement
March 01, 2010
Bill Narotski, Ohio EPA
Bill.Narotski@epa.state.oh.us

In the 2010 fish consumption advisory, Ohio has relaxed the consumption advisories for five locations, added more strict limits in five waterways and updated advisories for eight additional waterways for a total of 18 changes. The state has developed the fish consumption advisory updates for the 2010 fishing season based on detection levels found in samples taken in 28 waterways in the 2008 fishing season.

A statewide advisory remains in effect for one fish meal per week for all fish not otherwise specified due to mercury still found in fish tissue samples. Mercury poses the greatest 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.

Relaxed advisories are issued for five lakes due to lower mercury levels detected. People can now eat two fish meals per week from the following lakes: Buckeye Lake for black crappie and saugeye; Clear Fork Reservoir for largemouth bass; Dillon Lake for common carp and largemouth bass; Kiser Lake for largemouth bass; and Pymatuning Reservoir for largemouth bass.

Tighter limitations are recommended for safely consuming your catch in the following water bodies:

Chagrin River—One meal per month is advised for rock bass and small mouth bass in the stretch from I-90 to Lake Erie due to mercury.

Cuyahoga River —One meal per month advisories have been added and the scope of the advisory changed to the following river sections: State Route 87 (Russell Park) to Ohio Edison Dam Pool added due to PCB levels in common carp and mercury levels in black crappie and white sucker 16 inches and over; Ohio Edison Dam Pool to Lake Erie for PCBs found in brown bullhead, channel catfish, and common carp, and mercury found in white sucker 16 inches and over.

Great Miami River—One meal per month advisories have been added and the scope of the advisory changed for the following river sections:

Downstream of Indian Lake to Lowhead Dam at Monument Avenue for PCBs in common carp and flathead catfish, PCBs and mercury in channel catfish, and mercury in smallmouth bass and white bass. The advisory for fish caught downstream of Lowhead Dam at Monument Avenue has not changed from 2009. This includes a do-not-eat advisory from Lowhead Dam at Monument Avenue to State Route 73 near Middletown.

  • For all suckers due toPCB levels; one meal per month advisories due to PCB levels for common carp and flathead catfish,
  • PCB and mercury levels in channel catfish, and mercury levels in smallmouth bass and white bass; a do-not-eat advisory from State Route 73 near Middletown to Harrison
  • Pike for all suckers due to PCB levels; one meal every two months due to PCB levels in common carp,
  • PCB and lead levels in flathead catfish and striped bass hybrids; one meal per month due to PCBs in channel catfish,
  • Freshwater drum, saugeye, smallmouth buffalo, and mercury in white bass; a do-not-eat advisory from Harrison Pike to the Ohio River for all suckers due to PCBs; one meal every two months due to PCBs in common carp,
  • PCB and lead in flathead catfish and striped bass hybrids; one meal per month due to PCBs in channel catfish,
  • Freshwater drum, saugeye, smallmouth buffalo, and due to mercury in largemouth bass 15 inches and over and white bass.

Lake Erie—One meal every two months is advised due to PCBs for channel catfish, common carp 27 inches and over and lake trout. One meal per month is advised due to PCBs for Chinook salmon 19 inches and over, coho salmon, common carp under 27 inches, freshwater drum, smallmouth bass, steelhead trout, white bass, whitefish and white perch, and due to PCB and mercury in rock bass, and mercury in brown bullhead and largemouth bass.

Lake Milton—One common carp meal per month is advised due to PCBs.

Maumee River—one meal per month is advised from the Indiana state line to Waterville due to PCBs for freshwater drum and smallmouth bass, mercury and PCBs for smallmouth buffalo and mercury for common carp and flathead catfish. One meal every two months is advised from Waterville to Lake Erie due to PCBs in channel catfish. One meal per month is advised due to PCBs in freshwater drum and smallmouth bass, mercury and PCBs in smallmouth buffalo and mercury in common carp and flathead catfish.

Mohican River—One meal per month is advised from County Highway 23 to the Walhonding River for common carp due to PCBs and for rock bass due to mercury.

Portage River—One meal every two months is advised for channel catfish and common carp due to PCBs.

Rocky Fork Mohican River—One meal per month is advised from I-71 to the Mohican River due to PCBs for channel catfish and common carp.

Swan Creek—One meal per month is advised from Weckerley Road to Lake Erie due to PCBs for common carp and mercury for northern pike.

Toussaint Creek—One meal per month is advised from U.S. Route 23 to Lake Erie due to PCBs for common carp.

Veteran’s Memorial Reservoir—Two meals per week are advised for white crappie and one meal per month for common carp, both due to mercury.

Walhonding Rive—One meal per month is advised for all waters for channel catfish due to PCBs found in freshwater drum.

In addition to these updates, all Ohio fish advisories can be found on Ohio EPA's Web site at www.epa.state.oh.us/dsw/fishadvisory or by calling 1-800-755-4769 or (614) 644-2160. Fish consumption advisory contact information will be provided to anglers in the Ohio Fishing Regulations booklet with fishing license purchase, beginning on March 1, 2010. 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 469 samples. The information helps Ohios fishing community make informed decisions about consuming their catch. To learn more about fishing and shellfish purchased outside Ohio, please visit the federal government Web site: www.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/sea-mehg.html

Ohio Environmental Protection Agency This communication and any response to it may constitute a public record and thus may be publicly available to anyone who requests it.

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