In past years, the DNR and the state Department of Health and Family Services issued advisories that recommend how many meals of certain fish species and fish sizes that people can safely eat from each water found to have fish with elevated levels of environmental contaminants. Wisconsin has fish consumption advisories for about 380 of the more than 1,000 waters tested.

"Despite our extensive testing program over the past 20 years, the sheer abundance of waters in the state means that we still have a large number of untested sites," says Jim Amrhein, DNR fish contaminant specialist.  "We recognize that fact, and so are taking precautions by saying, "If you’re pregnant and you fish on a lake we have not tested, we know enough from our data on lakes that we have already tested that you should not eat trophy-sized fish to reduce the potential risk to you and your fetus."

The recommendations, listed in the updated 2000 fish consumption advisory, call for pregnant women to avoid eating northern pike over 32 inches in length, large or smallmouth bass over 17 inches, and walleye over 20 inches if the fish was caught north of State Highway 29 and over 24 inches if the walleye was caught south of Highway 29.

"Most fish people catch and eat are not of this size," Amrhein says.  U.S. EPA has concluded that between 1 and 3 percent of women of child-bearing age nationally eat sufficient amounts of fish to be at risk from methylmercury exposure, depending on the concentrations in the fish.

"We are trying to be extra cautious with this vulnerable population so we’re extending the fish consumption advisory to all lakes statewide unless the pregnant woman knows a particular lake has been tested and does not carry a fish consumption advisory," says Dr. Henry Anderson, chief medical officer for the state Health and Family Services Department.  "Science continues to document that pregnant women and their fetuses are vulnerable to harmful effects from mercury."

Women should first check the fish consumption advisory pamphlet to see if the lake they want to eat fish from is listed, and then call the local DNR office in the area to learn whether the lake has been tested.

The amount of contaminants found in fish varies depending on species, age, size, fat content, location and diet. Larger, older or predatory fish such as walleye and northern pike that have eaten many smaller fish may accumulate high levels of PCB or mercury in their bodies, Amrhein says.

The recommendation continues Wisconsin’s focus on reaching pregnant women and other extremely vulnerable populations with information about how they can reduce their risk of eating contaminated fish, Anderson says.  Efforts include reaching out to women who participate in the WIC program (Women, Infants and Children), which provides nutrition information and healthy food, creating a poster for display in pediatricians’ offices, and making the advisories available at primary care physicians’ offices, and local health departments.

The recommendation also brings Wisconsin more into line with what some other states are doing.  Michigan and Maine have not tested as extensively as Wisconsin, which has done the most testing among all states, so both Michigan and Maine have certain species and sizes of fish, Amrhein says.

The DNR will continue systematically testing Wisconsin’s 15,000 lakes for contaminated fish, focusing first on those sites where past industrial uses, the waters’ chemical characteristics, or the waters’ location near urban centers increases the likelihood that fish in them will contain contaminants at levels of concern, Amrhein says.  Since that testing program began in the 1970s, Wisconsin has tested more than 1,000 lakes, including 40 percent of the state’s major 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.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE FISH CONSUMPTION ADVISORY CONTACT:  Jim Amrhein (608) 266-5325 or Dr. Henry Anderson (608) 266-1253