Great Lakes Article:

Ohio EPA updates fish eating advisories
By John C. Kuehner
Plain Dealer
02/27/04

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has eased its advisory suggesting that largemouth bass caught in the Cuyahoga River between Akron and Cleveland be eaten no more than once a month.

It is now OK to eat largemouth bass caught in the Cuyahoga once a week. The state issued the old advisory in 1997.

This is another indication, albeit small, that the Cuyahoga River is gradually getting better, said Jim White, who heads the Cuyahoga River Remedial Action Plan, a regional body trying to restore the river's health.

"This is a long, incremental process," White said. "It's a little sign of success."

Rescinding the Cuyahoga's largemouth bass advisory is one of 31 changes announced Thursday that the Ohio EPA has made in the state's fish consumption advisory, which warns the public how often to eat pollution-tainted fish and how much to eat.

New data led state officials to restrict fish consumption at 15 more rivers and lakes because of contamination primarily from mercury and/or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Ohio now has 66 sites where the state advises the public to eat no more than one meal a month or one meal every other month.

The Ohio EPA also tightened existing advisories on 13 other rivers or lakes.

Adults and children should not eat more than one meal a week of fish caught in any body of water in Ohio, including Lake Erie, because of mercury pollution.

While pollutant levels are usually low, eating a lot of fish can cause harmful chemicals to build up in the body.

"Health problems that may result from the contaminants in fish range from small, hard to detect health changes to birth defects, as well as mental and physical retardation in newborns," according to the state.

The advisory is especially targeted at women of child-bearing age, pregnant and nursing women and children 6 and younger because they are most susceptible to toxic contaminants that accumulate in fish.

"These fish advisories are a short-term, stop-gap method in addressing the long-term problem," said Vicki Deisner, who heads the Ohio Environmental Council, a watchdog group. "We have to clean up the coal-burning power plants and reduce their emissions."

Mercury gets into the environment primarily from coal-burning power plants, which release it from their smokestacks.

The Ohio EPA issued the consumption advisory Thursday to coincide with the new fishing season, which starts Monday.

The Ohio EPA also rescinded once-a-month-meal advisories on the Scippo Creek in southwest Ohio and the Great Miami River.

New largemouth bass samples from the Cuyahoga showed lower mercury levels, which led to lifting the restriction.

The advisory is based on about 700 fish fillet samples collected in 2001 and 2002, said Mylynda Shaskus, an Ohio EPA environmental specialist. Samples collected last year will be part of the 2005 advisory.

The new advisory contains numerous changes because the Ohio EPA had two years of data to review, Shaskus said. The state took over the program from the Ohio Department of Health last year. No changes were made in the 2003 advisory because that data had not been analyzed.