Consumption Guide Discussion

I'd be leery about eating much of that catch. Check out the state of Michigan's fish consumption guidelines, which are much more stringent than Canada's. Canada doesn't even test for PFOS and many times it's only methyl mercury. Classic example was last year - Canadian advisory said rainbow smelt were fine for consumption, then US tests indicated zero consumption due to very high PFOS levels. The states lists both chinooks and lakers from Huron as "limited", regardless of size. That means 1-2 eight ounce meals per YEAR for a 180lb male. Be careful!

I wonder if they did more in depth testing from different areas in the Great lakes would be find out some areas have fish that aren't affected as bad. Be damned if I'm throwing out my jars of canned salmon.

That be it as it may , but i for one are going to enjoy eating our GB rainbows,salmon and lakers as often as i like ... hey have you checked out your farm raised trout and salmon..even our medical world is againt consumtion ....Dave

I wouldnt pay much attention to these one post wonders, first comment and trying to get people to not keep fish. Go hug a tree that needs some lovin. Fish on and great catch! Eat and enjoy, Gbay is one of the cleanest of the Great Lakes, Go check out the merc levels in that can of tuna.

I can't hug a tree without a conscience as I log and own/operate a sawmill ! I have no problem with catch and keep fisheries as long as they are sustainable, and with the Great Lakes being a stocked put-grow-take fishery, I say take whatever you want. I thought it would be a decent thing to do, warning someone about an obvious health danger eg. eating too much fish loaded with contaminants. Sorry for the head's up!

Re: "GB being the cleanest of the Great Lakes". Yes, if I had a choice of a Lake Ontario vs GBAY salmonid to eat, I'd go with the GBAY fish. Just about all fish from Lake Ontario are toxic waste. The contaminant loading is still very high for GBAY lakers and chinooks. eg. GB1 sampling site from provincial fish consumption guidelines - the testing is only for PCB's[U]:
Chinooks - kids under 15 or women - zero consumption. Men - one meal per month for a 28" fish.
Lakers - kids and women - zero consumption from 24" up, Men - you can have one meal per month. Zero consumption above 30".

That be it as it may , but i for one are going to enjoy eating our GB rainbows,salmon and lakers as often as i like ... hey have you checked out your farm raised trout and salmon..even our medical world is againt consumtion ....Dave

X2....I am 75 and will keep enjoying GB Salmon.

Arnie

Hey Arnie...I just turned 81 and i guess the mercury and contaminents havent reached my feet yet LOL I,ll keep eating any wild caught fish from GB vs farm raised..tight lines,,,.Dave...

Hey last year these ladies said I looked pretty healtly...LOl

Looking good Dave….you keep some fine company.

https://www.ontario.ca/page/fish-consumptio...ort?id=44467942


Theres several inaccurate/false statements here.
Canada does test for PFAS (its not PFOS but PFAS for the broad term btw)
They report for each species what they found in relevant concentrations and omit what they did not find, it does not mean they only test for one contaminant (PCB). They too report PFAS in rainbow smelt in the link above to 2023 Fish eating guide btw.
I used to know a person in charge of the program in On MOE and they were processing about 10,000 fish samples a year about 10 years ago. I doubt they do less samples now.
Also, if one looks a the recommended meals for chinook from lake O now compared to older fish eating guides the things are improving.
Still, this is a guide, recommendations, one can follow them or not.

https://www.wpr.org/animals/study-finds-ext...reat-lakes-fish

Here's the link to the PFOS contaminants in Great Lakes fish. PFOS is the most studied/researched chemical in the broad PFAS family group. Fire-fighting foam is the main source. They call this family "the forever" chemicals as they do not degrade with time.

https://www.michigan.gov/egle/newsroom/mi-e...n-smelt-mystery

The big stink is that Canada did not do PFAS screening on smelt back in 2021 when the dangerous levels were found by the Yanks. The Yanks immediately put a zero consumption guideline on smelt while the current Canadian guidelines continued to show that the fish were edible. I'm not sure how long it took Canada to follow suit and begin to test smelt.

1. theres nothing about complaints on Canadians not reporting PFAS in rainbow smelt in 2021 in the link provided, on the contrary, they mention a cooperation between various parties
2. what s the link between a high level of branched PFOS in smelt in the upper lake Superior and your statement that the catch of the gentlemen in the topic from southern Georgian bay is dangerous for consumption?
3. what expertise in the field of environmental pollution do you have to do all this scaremongering?

No there there's nothing about complaints from Canadians in the posted article but the topic was discussed in both the newspapers (it was either Thunder Bay or the Soo paper that had articles in it). and on outdoor forums. re: cooperation - yes there was initially, but it was all internal in the US during the initial 2019 release of the info. The States had already issued consumption limit advisories while Canadian guidelines remained the same. Canada finally acknowledged it in 2021 when they did the first call for Canadian anglers to submit smelt for testing.

I just read that now Lakes Michigan and Huron have been added to the list of restricted consumption waters, but only on the US side. Something stinks bad! Huron has a US consumption guideline of 1 meal PER year, then on the other side of the arbitrary line, the Canadian advisory says you can eat 32 meals PER month! The Canadian guideline site doesn't even indicate what contaminants they are testing. It sure as heck can't be PFAS if they are advising it's safe to eat 384 meals of smelt per year while the US says it's safe to only eat one meal per year.

You can label this as scaremongering if you like, but it definitely makes me question the Canadian advisory, and whether it's safe for my family to be consuming these fish. I'm retired now, so maybe I'll try calling MECP to get some answers.

Re: Comments about being leery about eating the lakers and chinooks . This is based on what it currently advises in the current Ontario guidlines. PCB and methyl mercury are the concerns for fish that size from GBAY.