The additions bring to 341 the number of Wisconsin waters with fish consumption advisories for mercury, recommendations that encourage people who frequently eat fish to limit during the year their meals of certain fish species and sizes from waters on the list.  The vast majority of fish from Wisconsin waters are safe to eat, and the lakes aren’t newly contaminated but rather have just been identified under the DNR’s extensive 20-plus year program to test Wisconsin’s 15,000 lakes.

"The addition of these 11 lakes, particularly given that one-third of them are in the southeastern part of the state, points to the need for Wisconsin to take steps now to reduce mercury pollution statewide," Meyer says.

Reducing mercury emissions also is important to protect fishing opportunities and the more than $2 billion that sport-fishing pumps into the state’s economy, he says.  "We’re greatly concerned that a continual and ever-expanding fish consumption advisory for mercury may harm recreation and tourism in Wisconsin," he says.

Legislation has been introduced that would limit future mercury emissions.  Senate Bill 177 calls for phased-in reductions over 20 years in mercury emissions from incinerators, electric utility generating stations, and other industrial sources that contribute to mercury from the atmosphere that enters waterbodies as rain, dust, or runoff from rain or snowmelt.  The bill also provides funding to measure and evaluate how the environment is responding to these reductions in order to better protect Wisconsin’s natural resources.

"This is a modest first step in controlling mercury emissions in Wisconsin," Meyer says.  The DNR also will work for national legislation to reduce mercury emissions that drift intoWisconsin and contribute to mercury advisories here and in 38 other states.

The fish consumption advisories encourage people to continue enjoying fishing, but to limit the number of meals they eat each year of certain species and sizes from 341 waterbodies with elevated levels of mercury and 38 waters with elevated levels of PCBs.  No new sites were added to the list for PCBs this year.

"We don’t want to discourage people from eating fish – fish are a healthy, low-cost source of protein and fishing fosters family bonding and stewardship of Wisconsin’s natural resources," says Dr. Henry Anderson, chief medical officer for the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services.  "But we want people to know whether the waters they fish have consumption advisories, and to follow recommendations to reduce their risk of eating fish that may contain environmental contaminants."

Mercury in Wisconsin waters is converted by bacteria into a form that can be taken up into the aquatic food chain, where it concentrates at each step of the way and is eventually absorbed into the tissues of people who eat the fish.  People who frequently eat fish with elevated levels of mercury over time can suffer long-term damage to the kidney, liver and central nervous system, and young children and developing fetuses are particularly at risk of such damage, Anderson says.

Since the DNR began testing in the 1970s, about 380 of the more than 1,000 lakes and river segments checked have had fish with environmental contaminants at levels that have triggered fish advisories, according to Jim Amrhein, DNR fish contaminant specialist.  "We didn’t find any new PCB sites this year and we continue to monitor the ones we know about," he says.  "We’re hopeful we have a handle on those sites and we won’t have any surprises, but we continue to add lakes for mercury as we progress in our testing."

The 11 lakes added to the updated 2000 fish consumption advisory are:

                       Bayfield County: Pigeon Lake;
                       Forest County: Jungle and Trump lakes;
                       Monroe County: Lost Lake - on Ranch Creek;
                       Vilas County: Broken Bow, Circle Lily,
                       Deerskin, and Cranberry lakes;
                       Waukesha County: Lower Nemahbin, Pretty, and Upper Nemahbin lakes.

Copies of the guide, called "Important Health Information for People Eating Fish from Wisconsin Waters," are available free from any DNR office or by contacting the DNR Bureau of Fisheries Management and Habitat Protection (608) 267-7498.

A position paper describing the DNR’s strategy for reducing mercury emissions is on the DNR web site in a .pdf file .