Friday, December 31, 2004
To eat or not to eat? Sweeping consumption advisories are sure to affect sport fishing in Virginia
Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor's Outdoors column and notebook appears regularly in The Roanoke Times.
Recent columns
"Look at all those fish," Skillman said suddenly, watching as orange blips appeared on the screen of his boat's sonar unit. "Get ready." Sitting in the bow, Skillman was the first to hook up. Soon fishing buddy Dewayne Lamb was fast to a fish. Then a third rod, held steady in a holder, bowed to the lake's frigid surface.
Skillman, who lives on the lake near Hardy, quickly boated a 5-pound striped bass, a gleaming example of one of the lake's bread-and-butter sport fish. He admired the striper for a moment and then tossed it back into the water.
In the past most striper fishermen at Smith Mountain Lake kept their catch, at least until they had their two-fish limit on ice.
That may change.
Smith Mountain Lake's stripers are among the many sport fish affected by recent sweeping fish consumption advisories issued by Virginia's Department of Health.
The new advisories cover other important sport fish species across the region and state, including largemouth bass and catfish at Smith Mountain Lake, smallmouth bass at Claytor Lake, smallmouth bass in sections of the Roanoke and New rivers, and anadromous striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
With a few exceptions, health officials warn that people should eat no more than two meals per month of fish included in the advisories. Young children and pregnant women are advised to avoid the fish altogether.
The changes reflect more stringent standards, not an increase in the level of PCBs in the fish. Virginia officials wanted to bring the state's advisories in line with those in Maryland and North Carolina.
Simply put, had Skillman and Lamb kept the largest four of the six fish they eventually caught that recent morning, they would have had nearly a year's supply of striper fillets for their families.
Reaction to the recent announcement has varied in the sport fishing community, but most agree that the advisories will affect recreational fishing statewide.
"Advisories tend to reduce fishing pressure, and they tend to really reduce harvest," said Scott Smith, a regional fisheries biologist with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. "I think [angler reaction] is going to be a little different on every water."
Lamb, who runs a boat rental business and works as a striper fishing guide at Smith Mountain Lake, had mixed feelings when he learned of the advisories. He said the vast majority of his clients want to target stripers, and most of those people keep the fish they catch.
"When they pay $200 to $300 a day, they want to have something to show for it," said Lamb, who said that most of his clients are tourists.
Lamb sees a potential upside, however. A reduction of fishing pressure and harvest could help the lake's striper population rebound from the 2002 parasite-related fish kill that killed most of the lake's trophy-sized stripers.
"Personally, I like to catch big fish," he said. "This could help the trophy fishing."
Lamb said he plans to take a digital camera along during future trips so he can print pictures for clients when they return to the dock.
Skillman, a 67-year-old retired business owner, isn't concerned about the advisory. He rarely keeps stripers to eat anyway, and even when he does he won't sweat it.
"I've been eating these fish for years," he said. "It's not going to change my eating habits."
Many coastal striper anglers also apparently share that view. Claude Bain, who runs the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament, said he hadn't heard from any anglers who were concerned about the advisory for stripers in the Chesapeake Bay.
"The people I hear from who are concerned about it are the people I play golf with and my mother," Bain said.
Although stripers are popular tablefare along the coast, the fish's sporting qualities are the primary lure for many anglers. Additionally, well-equipped saltwater fishermen who are interested in boating fish to eat have plenty of other options.
Bain said he wouldn't be surprised if the advisory actually improved the sport fishery for stripers, which are often called rockfish along the coast, by reducing demand for commercially harvested stripers.
Advisories can improve fishing. For example, a long-standing advisory on eating large blue catfish from the lower James River has almost certainly contributed to an amazing trophy fishery that has gained national attention.
Khizar Wasti, director of the Division of Health Hazards Control with the Virginia Health Department, said the guidelines are not meant to scare people away from fishing.
"We still encourage people to fish and enjoy water recreation, and fish are still a good source of protein and a good dietary component," Wasti said. "But we are saying it may increase the risk of cancer in people who eat certain fish from the same rivers every day. It doesn't mean you will get cancer, but it increases the risk."
Wasti, a toxicologist who also is trained in chemistry, said it was the duty of state health officials to notify the public of potential hazards. He said he did not think the new guidelines would hurt fishing guides, bait shops and other businesses that depend on state waterways.
"I don't believe that's our intention," he said. "And these are just recommendations, not laws. You can eat these fish today or tomorrow and not get sick. It's based on a long-term thing."
Some of the advisories will likely have less impact than others.
Catfish are another traditionally popular food fish, but the harvest will almost certainly drop at Smith Mountain Lake, where most anglers have kept most of the channel catfish they caught.
Yet most fans of largemouth and smallmouth bass have little at stake since most of them already release almost all of the fish they catch.
For example, at Smith Mountain Lake, where largemouth bass are the most sought-after sport fish, fishermen release 90 percent of the largemouth bass they catch, according to a 2003 angler survey.
Catch-and-release is also the norm on the smallmouth fishery on the New River and the popular largemouth bass fishery on Kerr Reservoir.
With few anglers on the water during the winter, accessing the statewide impact of the new advisories is difficult. The picture should become clearer in the spring, when warming weather triggers the start of the traditional fishing season.
Staff writer John Cramer contributed to this report.
Reducing risk
Follow these guidelines for minimizing consumption of PCBs
Because PCBs accumulate over time, people should eat smaller, younger fish that less likely to contain high levels of PCBs that may exist in larger, older fish.
Fish should be baked, broiled or grilled rather than fried.
Because PCBs accumulate in skin, fat and internal organs, those parts should be discarded.
People who frequently eat fish from contaminated waters should eat fewer of the fish and eat different species from different bodies of water to reduce their cancer risk.
