East TN fishermen?

Union Co. Boy

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Oct 23, 2008
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1,591
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TN
Douglas and fort nasty are 2 of the worst lakes on the east side!!!!!!
I've never eaten anything but crappie from Douglas. Nothing at all from the Fort. There are a lot of us that eat them. I've never heard of any issues. Man I've never heard that before. I'll check into it though. I appreciate the heads up!
 

rsimms

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Sep 8, 2002
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4,284
Location
Chattanooga, TN
READ THIS PLEASE:
Here's the one thing that REALLY makes me mad about this discussion. Commercial fishermen who legally catch fish for consumption from a body of water with a Health Advisory are NOT required to report where their fish came from. I know for a fact that commercial fishermen catch tons of catfish from Nickajack Reservoir, where there is a Health Advisory (one meal per month). Yet they are not required to report to anyone, including the buyers, that those fish their selling came from waters with a health advisory. There is an excellent chance that the exact same scenario is true for any fish you buy in a grocery store. It makes me mad as he!! for state health officials to put the fear of God into sport fishermen, yet they have no requirement forcing sellers to report the source of their wares to the people buying the fish. TWRA says (rightfully), "It's not our job." The Health Dept. says, "We make every effort to inform the public. It is simply an 'Advisory' and it is up to the consumer to ultimately decide what they want to consume."
In 1998 the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a federal public health agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, published results from a longterm study on Watts Bar Lake (which has some some serious health advisories). They actually surveyed and monitored fishermen for several years and obtained permission to access health records. You can read the entire study here but it reads in conclusion, "PCB level and blood mercury levels (in study participants) are very similar to levels found in the general population. In addition, the PCBs and mercury levels of the participants were lower than ATSDR health scientists expected to find in persons who consume moderate to large amounts of certain fish or turtles from Watts Bar Reservoir."
So, for the record, except for those "Do Not Eat the Fish" streams in Shelby County, I'd probably eat damn near any fish I wanted from anywhere. Any dangers are from "cumulative" effects. To take home one mess of fish from any given fishery for a meal is NOT going to hurt you. Disobey a health advisory for week-after-week, month-after-month, or year-after-year, maybe? But I refuse to believe that eating a meal or two of fish from virtually any body of water on occasion is going to hurt you.
Rant over... drive through now.
 

rsimms

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Joined
Sep 8, 2002
Messages
4,284
Location
Chattanooga, TN
Tell that to someone who has had ciguatera poisoning.
With due respect, we're talking about Tennessee health advisories, primarily regarding man-made, chemical pollutants in Tennessee waterways. I certainly would NEVER wish ciguaratera on ANYONE. But it is a naturally occurring (not man-made) toxin in salt water fish. It is apples and oranges to the context of this thread.
 

RUGER

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Joined
Nov 19, 1999
Messages
4,145,956
Location
TN
READ THIS PLEASE:
Here's the one thing that REALLY makes me mad about this discussion. Commercial fishermen who legally catch fish for consumption from a body of water with a Health Advisory are NOT required to report where their fish came from. I know for a fact that commercial fishermen catch tons of catfish from Nickajack Reservoir, where there is a Health Advisory (one meal per month). Yet they are not required to report to anyone, including the buyers, that those fish their selling came from waters with a health advisory. There is an excellent chance that the exact same scenario is true for any fish you buy in a grocery store. It makes me mad as he!! for state health officials to put the fear of God into sport fishermen, yet they have no requirement forcing sellers to report the source of their wares to the people buying the fish. TWRA says (rightfully), "It's not our job." The Health Dept. says, "We make every effort to inform the public. It is simply an 'Advisory' and it is up to the consumer to ultimately decide what they want to consume."
In 1998 the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a federal public health agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, published results from a longterm study on Watts Bar Lake (which has some some serious health advisories). They actually surveyed and monitored fishermen for several years and obtained permission to access health records. You can read the entire study here but it reads in conclusion, "PCB level and blood mercury levels (in study participants) are very similar to levels found in the general population. In addition, the PCBs and mercury levels of the participants were lower than ATSDR health scientists expected to find in persons who consume moderate to large amounts of certain fish or turtles from Watts Bar Reservoir."
So, for the record, except for those "Do Not Eat the Fish" streams in Shelby County, I'd probably eat damn near any fish I wanted from anywhere. Any dangers are from "cumulative" effects. To take home one mess of fish from any given fishery for a meal is NOT going to hurt you. Disobey a health advisory for week-after-week, month-after-month, or year-after-year, maybe? But I refuse to believe that eating a meal or two of fish from virtually any body of water on occasion is going to hurt you.
Rant over... drive through now.
Very cool, thanks for your input!
 

WTM

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2008
Messages
16,206
Location
benton co.
READ THIS PLEASE:
Here's the one thing that REALLY makes me mad about this discussion. Commercial fishermen who legally catch fish for consumption from a body of water with a Health Advisory are NOT required to report where their fish came from. I know for a fact that commercial fishermen catch tons of catfish from Nickajack Reservoir, where there is a Health Advisory (one meal per month). Yet they are not required to report to anyone, including the buyers, that those fish their selling came from waters with a health advisory. There is an excellent chance that the exact same scenario is true for any fish you buy in a grocery store. It makes me mad as he!! for state health officials to put the fear of God into sport fishermen, yet they have no requirement forcing sellers to report the source of their wares to the people buying the fish. TWRA says (rightfully), "It's not our job." The Health Dept. says, "We make every effort to inform the public. It is simply an 'Advisory' and it is up to the consumer to ultimately decide what they want to consume."
In 1998 the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a federal public health agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, published results from a longterm study on Watts Bar Lake (which has some some serious health advisories). They actually surveyed and monitored fishermen for several years and obtained permission to access health records. You can read the entire study here but it reads in conclusion, "PCB level and blood mercury levels (in study participants) are very similar to levels found in the general population. In addition, the PCBs and mercury levels of the participants were lower than ATSDR health scientists expected to find in persons who consume moderate to large amounts of certain fish or turtles from Watts Bar Reservoir."
So, for the record, except for those "Do Not Eat the Fish" streams in Shelby County, I'd probably eat damn near any fish I wanted from anywhere. Any dangers are from "cumulative" effects. To take home one mess of fish from any given fishery for a meal is NOT going to hurt you. Disobey a health advisory for week-after-week, month-after-month, or year-after-year, maybe? But I refuse to believe that eating a meal or two of fish from virtually any body of water on occasion is going to hurt you.
Rant over... drive through now.
ive come to realize over the last few years that folks drinking well water probably has a higher concentration of heavy metals and poisons than folks that eat fish from the lakes.
 

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