LANSING — The state of Michigan released its latest Eat Safe Fish guide this week, more than doubling the amount of previous warnings about consuming potentially contaminated fish.
The state suggests anglers use the guide to reduce their consumption of PFAS and other harmful chemicals. The warnings apply to hundreds of bodies of water around the state, including some in Northern Michigan.
The report issued several new “do not eat” warnings for Northern Michigan, reflecting recent findings that smaller amounts of forever chemicals can harm human health.
Pere Marquette River in Mason and Lake Counties has a large concentration of fish that authorities say you should not eat — bluegill, rock bass, sunfish and yellow perch all fall under that warning.
There are also two new advisories for Chippewa County — Kinross Lake, where bluegill and sunfish should not be eaten, and Dukes Lake, where bluegill, sunfish and rock bass should not be eaten.
Rock bass from Pike Lake in Luce County should also be avoided, as well as larger lake trout in Antrim County’s Torch Lake.
The state also advises that all carp in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron should not be eaten, though this notice was included previously.
“If people are eating contaminated fish, then the levels of these PFAS chemicals can build up in their tissues and eventually cause harm,” said A. Daniel Jones, interim director for MSU’s PFAS Analytical Laboratory.
Those fish and others should be avoided due to the high amounts of mercury and PFOS, a type of forever chemical associated with cancer and thyroid damage.
Experts says that consuming any amount of fish marked as “do not eat” could lead to future health problems, regardless of age or current health.
“We need to be more aware that these very persistent chemicals eventually get into us, and they already have. We’re all contaminated,” Jones said.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says that the new warnings aren’t necessarily due to increased contamination — instead, they say this year’s report significantly lowered the threshold for the amount of chemicals considered harmful to human health, leading to more warnings throughout the state.
“It’s not that the PFOS levels were necessarily going up in those water bodies,” said Marcus Wasilevich, Toxicology and Assessment section manager with MDHHS. “It’s that we realize PFOS is actually more toxic than we originally thought when we first started doing this analysis 10 years ago.”
Most other fish in Northern Michigan lakes are cleared for consumption multiple times per month. Serving sizes vary with age and weight, so make sure to check this year’s guide for detailed information.
Also, officials say that lakes or rivers not listed in the guide could also contain chemicals in harmful amounts — due to time and resources, many bodies of water are tested only after a request to do so.
“There are no water bodies in the state of Michigan that you’re going to look at that are 100% free of contaminants in fish,” Wasilevich said. “Fish generally are going to have some sort of contamination with them. Might be a very minimal amount, might be a lot, depending on the water body.”
Other lakes still contain fish that may have a harmful amount of chemicals. Those are listed as safe for “limited” consumption and can be eaten once or twice a year if a person is otherwise healthy.
Limited fish should be avoided by children under 15, those with health problems like diabetes or cancer, and women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or may have children in the next few years.