# Ohio Fish consumption advisories



## LittleMiamiJeff (Oct 1, 2005)

Here's some links to EPA advisories for rivers and lakes close to Cincy:
http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dsw/fishadvisory/waters/Eastfork.html
http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dsw/fishadvisory/waters/Littlemiami.html

http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dsw/fishadvisory/waters/Ohioriver.html

This is parent directory, there's Rocky Fork, Paint Creek, Mad river, etc.
http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dsw/fishadvisory/waters/

Worth checking out, Mercury is the biggest problem in this part of the state, don't eat more than one meal a month, which is pretty limited.
LMJ


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## dwwv4 (Nov 12, 2006)

i read a while back that the only place left in the world, with fish that didn't have contamenments was in new zealand... i guess fish are not as healthy to eat as one would have you believe.... the guy who sets nets on the ohio river, down near 8 mile creek sends fish out of state to get around adviseries.. i wonder how many of these farm raised catfish really come out of the river?????


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## LittleMiamiJeff (Oct 1, 2005)

Yeah, I wonder just how 'safe' the fish in the grocery is, beef, chicken, etc.
Seeing as how nothing is free from pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, unless you buy and eat 'organic' meats, and let's face it, other than the name, what water or patch of dirt is that raised on that hasn't in some measure been contaminated.
I don't freek over it.
I don't eat a lot of river fish, more C&R, but will eat now and then.
Just an FWI, not meant to alarm or get overly "GREEN" on ya!
LMJ


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## dwwv4 (Nov 12, 2006)

yea..... and iv'e ate worst things than mercury!!!!!!


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## cadyshac (Dec 9, 2005)

I don't eat a lot of river fish either but occasionally I will keep a few for the table. I get a kick out of the people who say they would never eat anything out of the river. Where do the restaurant fish come from and how clean is that body of water?? At least if I keep some I can choose to keep fish that appear healthy and I know how the meat was handled. All of the Friday fish fries have me yearning for some fresh fish but the cold muddy water is messing with my plans!!!
Cady


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## riverKing (Jan 26, 2007)

most of the fish you eat in a resturaunt come from hatchery ponds, and hatchery ponds need a source of water. usually its a spring, larger lake, or a river. dont worry i dont think anyone is dumb enough to use water from the ohio to fill their hatchery. from the ohio the only thing i ever eat is the occasional sauger


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## ohiogary (Dec 14, 2006)

Same here I consume a few walleyes or saugeyes, buts thats about it. With all the steel mills and other factories, I am surprised there isnt a bigger issue with the air we breathe, when youre on route 7 heading towards Steubenville, somedays you can just about taste the metallic in the air. Another thing I wonder about is the waterfowl, how many people hunt the lakes around the area and consume there kill, there all migatory, no shortage of ducks or geese on the river, and they feed on the aquatic vegatation growing in the water, seems like they would be just as toxic. Just my opinion


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## Kyfisherman1 (Mar 22, 2007)

A few years back I was working at Carter caves state park in ky, working with a couple state biologist on bats I asked them how the fish were in the river, they both stated they felt that the advisories were just precautionary, and that the river wasn't near as bad as people think, or near as bad as it has been in the past. 

I later read several articles on farm raised fish, farm raised fish were said to have higher levels of pollutants than any other fish. The farm raised fish are often raised in crowded ponds, and fed growth horomons in their feed to grow faster. 

I'll eat fish from the river, always have.


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## snake69 (Sep 26, 2005)

Won't apologize, but I eat all or most fish I catch from the river. We inhale more garbage than most fish could contain. Many, many restaurants from northern Ohio get their fish from Lake Erie and it's a known fact that 1.25 million cubic feet of "waste" gets dumped into Lake Erie *daily*!


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## BlueGumyBear (Mar 24, 2007)

Oh that's comforting.


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## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

As stated in many post on the Ohio River there were concerns about the locals and such taking the cigar size saugers home to eat . Maybe now we know why . Lake Erie has a restriction of 1 meal a month of any walleye over 25 inches yet you can eat one meal a week of any walleye under 25 inches . The poisons build up over time as we all know .
If you are going to eat any fish out of any body of water in Ohio I would suggest just eating only walleye , sauger and saugeye under 15 inches . I notice there is a restriction for the walleye and bluegill out of CJ Brown also .Rember this all of the drinking water for the great city of Cinn. Ohio is pumped out of the Ohio River .


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## LittleMiamiJeff (Oct 1, 2005)

C J Hughes said:


> Rember this all of the drinking water for the great city of Cinn. Ohio is pumped out of the Ohio River .


Well, CJ, the fish swim in it and do all kinds of things we wouldn't mention here, and they dump sewage and industrial waste in it upstream, and we send ours downstream through the Millcreek among others, the filtering stations do have their work cut out for them don't they?  
I see what you mean about the dinks taken home for dinner, makes too much sense.
Seems smaller hybrids and whites would be smart, too?
LMJ


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## scrawfrd02 (Jul 27, 2005)

you guys are crazy ignoring that stuff. youre beliefs mean nothing. science has been tested. the area we live in is a runoff for all of the city and industry. after stretches of miles the water naturally cleans itself. buts its not safe to eat anything around our rivers when you talk about long run.. if u eat mercury u wouldnt feel different, but its doing something. most fish comes from the ocean or farms, lakes are pretty safe, they are more pure. fish farms are in nice bodies of water usually as well. im an environmental science major and learn this stuff in class all the time. but if youd rather eat your free dinner than pay 5$ for som salmon and be safe, then i dunno.


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## LittleMiamiJeff (Oct 1, 2005)

The Scrawford02 has spoken, thanks for the encouraging words there Scraw!
Ima figerin' yer jus a lil too big fer yer britches there yungun!
Come on down to the crik wit dat der dergree and diplomee and see's what yer gits fer suppah!
LMJ


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

Good one Jeff, my wife likes Saugers & Walleyes but sees this and wonders "why put a limit on contaminated fish". Why throw them back? Catch them all, drain the river and start over. Get all the leadheads back and the 2oz spoons, all the sunken boats ,barges and cars, all the leftover bones from the hybrids eating the contaminated shad & skipjacks, countless rods and reels, and then just maybe the Sheepheads won't die off in the middle of May to contaminate the water all over again. Maybe I'll just quit fishing all together and use my money for a contaminant called gasoline. If I do go again , I think I'll wear some gloves. Maybe thats the reason my hands always look so clean after I fish. Sorry Sharon , the fish are bad and now you have to put up with me!!!


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## LittleMiamiJeff (Oct 1, 2005)

Well, Dave, we can just all sit in the safety of our homes, eating process armour meat by-product, which has had all the nutrition sucked out of it, maybe baby food, cooked, strained, pureed, bland, lifeless, tasteless.
We can fish from the safety of our sofas on the worldwide web fishery, casting our educated opinions out for all to see and hopefully we'll get a bite.
I'll dig it out sometime, Teddy Roosevelt, one of my favorites, said something to the effect of it's not the timid sitting in the stands, but the participant, win or lose, who spent himself in the noble effort, now covered in mud, blood and sweat and tears, who has actually won.


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## Kyfisherman1 (Mar 22, 2007)

lol i have a biology/enviormental science degree.... and by you talking about "buying" your dinner shows how little you know, once you get out of the class things tend to be a bit different lol

thats pretty naive to think because you buy it that it's better....


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## Cordon (Apr 12, 2005)

We could go back and forth on this forever. Eating too much of anything is bad for you. Eat to much meat and you clog your arteries, eat to much fish and you get mercury poisioning heck just a few months ago you couldn't even eat spinach and lettuce. Most of the "seafood" we eat here in the midwest comes from the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic and yes there are warnings about mercury in those fish as well.

http://www.dhh.louisiana.gov/offices/publications.asp?ID=205&Detail=1599

What can we do about it now? Not much, yes we can make sure it doesn't get any worse but it will never be completely "safe" the damage is done and people and companies will always break and bend the rules that will never change. 

So what do we do? Be smart about it if you want to eat a meal or two of fish out of the local lakes and rivers do it! Is it going to turn your insides to liquid or make you go blind NO, just be smart about it and do it in moderation.

That is just my two cents but what do I know I am just be one of those Hillbillies Scrawford was talking about because I didn't learn that from a classroom!!


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

Yeah Jeff, Cordon, I really don't care who eats them or not. It's your choice. Just my choice not to. I don't care for fish anyway and most of the regulars I fish with don't keep them either. I just fish to relax and get a good case of Hybrid Elbow. But i'll be damned if I keep a limit of cigars because there's not as much poison in them. Another excuse. There's just as much in them just from exposure. Every time a bird flies over your pristine,crystal clear lake and drops a load, it's probably contaminated too. I wouldn't eat out of the toilet!! The debate will go on forever , but do like Cordon says and eat 'em if you want in moderation or not. Iwon't have very many anyway, but I'll not call it the end of the world if you do. Jeff, you coming up this way soon? Should be really good toward the end of next week,finally. I love this site....Dave


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## ErieAngler (Apr 15, 2006)

Daveo76 said:


> Every time a bird flies over your pristine,crystal clear lake and drops a load, it's probably contaminated too. I wouldn't eat out of the toilet!! ....Dave


Great analogy dude ......  . That very epiphany of yours applies to just about everything and anything you eat.

Good luck fishing,


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## cadyshac (Dec 9, 2005)

Damn, y'all got me depressed! Guess I'll have some soylent green, thats safe to eat. Scraw did I spell that correctly, never got me much learnin, spented two muche tyme fishun.
Cadyee


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## ohiogary (Dec 14, 2006)

After listening to all these comments, I think I will have to go down to the freezer and take out a mess of walleyes and deep fry them bad boys up. I think the taste of them fillets will over come that there mercury or was that evinrude


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## LittleMiamiJeff (Oct 1, 2005)

Daveo76, down in Alabama trying to scare up some stripers, there is so much shad in this Tennessee river that the fish just don't seem to bite anything.
I had one good run today, but only caught a skipjack.
We're heading to Guntersville tailrace tomorrow, maybe better stripe action.
I'll need to get with you next couple weeks, see about coming out and checking out your tailrace! 
LMJ


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## snake69 (Sep 26, 2005)

Ohiogary, I'll second that motion! Sounds like one hell of an idea. We stand as much chance of dying from a tornado or lightning or car accident or 100 other reasons. Don't forget all the stuff that causes cancer...etc, etc..... I'll stick to something I enjoy...contaminated fish..*Oh yeah!!*


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## freyedknot (Apr 10, 2004)

everything causes cancer in california?? is anything safe these days?? not even dog food or a caribean cruise anymore?


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## scrawfrd02 (Jul 27, 2005)

thats like eh ill smoke cigs, u could die of anything, hell theres prob as much pollution in the air. prob get cancer from cell phones too. heard it all before... but since u know whats in the fish and have declared it safe ill take your word for it


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## HockingEscape (Apr 3, 2006)

My pappy tol me if ya gonna eat them fish, hang em on da cloths line by the mouth for 2 hours. Then cuts the tail off and all dat mercyury falls out.


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## LittleMiamiJeff (Oct 1, 2005)

Spoken like a true pharmacist! 
LMJ


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## HockingEscape (Apr 3, 2006)

lol. QS. AD. 400mcg Hg q month. I reckon that's better.


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## bigcats (Apr 5, 2007)

snake69 said:


> Ohiogary, I'll second that motion! Sounds like one hell of an idea. We stand as much chance of dying from a tornado or lightning or car accident or 100 other reasons. Don't forget all the stuff that causes cancer...etc, etc..... I'll stick to something I enjoy...contaminated fish..*Oh yeah!!*


I am with ya on that one for sure!


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

I forgot to mention that I did try to be fair to the fish a few years ago. I was using a white LEAD spoon and peeled the California warning sticker from one of the other lures and put it in plain sight for the fish to see. Did they care? Nope. Caught a tagged Hybrid from the Racine L&D . Came all that way to get it at Greenup. Not to mention a few Drums!!


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