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Alan Patterson keeps an eye on his fishing rods during a visit to the Detroit River. Though he knows about the state's fish intake advisories, Patterson, like many sport fishermen, says he's not concerned enough to heed them.Health warnings persist about PCBs, mercury found in fish
Critics say advisories are inconsistent or outdated, and some just don't take them seriously.
Curtis Clements prepares his rod for fishing at the Detroit River. Of contaminants believed to be in the water, he says, "The water is really clear. They haven't said it's excessively polluted."
Other state and provincial advisories
DETROIT -- The most visible reminder of the toxic chemicals that still taint the Great Lakes are the health warnings cautioning fishermen that not everything they catch is safe to eat.
The warnings cover all five Great Lakes, plus many of the region's inland lakes and rivers.
Among the contaminants are PCBs, mercury and dioxins, which can build up in fish to dangerous levels. Tainted fish are the main way pollution gets from the water into people.
The chemicals have been linked to cancer, liver damage and other long-term health problems, though many of the effects of eating tainted fish still aren't fully known because most studies have been done only on lab animals.
Critics say the advisories are often inconsistent or outdated. And too often, fishermen ignore them.
On a Friday morning in July, a half-hour after sunrise along the Detroit River, Curtis Clements leaned back in his folding chair, took a puff of his cigarette, and said he eats the fish despite the warnings. "That's not really so much an issue here. The water is really clear," he said. "They haven't said it's excessively polluted."
Besides, he said as he watched his two lines twitch in the early-morning sun, he's not really fishing for food. "I really come down here for the peace of mind," he said. "If I catch a fish, all right. If not, I enjoy the water, just sit back and relax."
Michigan's guidelines say carp from the Detroit River are unsafe to eat because of PCBs and dioxin; women and children shouldn't eat walleye from the river more than once a month. Other fish can be eaten more frequently.
"The bottom line is fish is good for us," said David Wade, who runs the state Department of Community Health unit responsible for the fish advisories. "People need to appreciate the balance between eating too much and eating too little."
The advisories vary for each lake and type of fish, and are based on samples taken from fish caught there. In some areas, the samples are taken annually; in others, testing is less frequent. Michigan's guidelines are especially stringent for children and women of child-bearing age, who health officials say are more susceptible to the toxins.
"It's a big deal. Not so much for fishermen, but for their wives and their families," said Ilan Levin, counsel for the Washington-based Environmental Integrity Project, whose researchers found that Great Lakes states give inconsistent warnings.
In 2003, for instance, Michigan warned against eating any carp caught in Lake Erie, while Ohio's guidelines warned against eating them more than once a month.
But there's also a more fundamental problem: "I think a lot of people don't know about fish advisories and don't take them seriously," Levin said.
Part of the reason many don't know is that budget cuts have forced Michigan to stop handing out the advisories when people buy fishing licenses; now they are mainly available online.
Also, this year's advisories didn't come out until months after the start of fishing season. Because of spending cuts, the state didn't have employees to assign to the job.
Alan Patterson, fishing the Detroit River near downtown Detroit, said he knows about the warnings but isn't concerned.
"I caught a big walleye the other day. It was delicious," he said. "I don't have any side effects yet."
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