nsr walleye tags?

[waterninja]

having only started fishing the nsr seriously in the last year (same time i joined this forum) i don't know if this question has come up. don't know about past years but it seems the walleye pop. is very healthy in the nsr. the majority of fish i catch and see being caught are walleye. why doesen't srd sell a limited number of special tags for the nsr? i know that a lot of people will say why the heck would you eat one out of the nsr but some people do and i eat fish from alberta lakes and i don't think there is a lake in alberta that isn't polluted to some extent. i find it hard to believe that eating the odd fish from the nsr would harm me and they would probably taste as good as one caught from a lake.

[Graffy91]

having only started fishing the nsr seriously in the last year (same time i joined this forum) i don't know if this question has come up. don't know about past years but it seems the walleye pop. is very healthy in the nsr. the majority of fish i catch and see being caught are walleye. why doesen't srd sell a limited number of special tags for the nsr? i know that a lot of people will say why the heck would you eat one out of the nsr but some people do and i eat fish from alberta lakes and i don't think there is a lake in alberta that isn't polluted to some extent. i find it hard to believe that eating the odd fish from the nsr would harm me and they would probably taste as good as one caught from a lake.

Every type of fish has high mercury level.

Mans gotta eat, I would still eat one out of the river.

[Teamprotz]

Never worried about fish from the river , they are delicious ! ( i'm in sask) just because my 11 year old daughter is 5'10" is no reason not to eat the fish !:thinking-006:

[Levy]

Elevated mercury levels are likely a combination of natural and manmade problems that are compounded by biomagnification. Its not that the lakes and river are polluted bad its because of biomagnification that there are advisories on the number of fish to eat. Essentially the bigger fish have eaten more baitfish and taken in more contaminant from their environment. I know when it was first explained to me i had a hard time with it so here is a corny video that illustrates biomagnification. The sparkles represent toxins. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9n_8KH235c

It takes a while for those toxins to be flushed out of your system and my understanding of it is that in grown men mercury poisoning isn't as problematic as in children and women. Children because they are much smaller and their bodies won't dilute the mercury to the same levels as a grown man and because mercury poisoning in still growing children has long term side affects such as respiratory problems and reduced fertility. In women because smaller amounts of mercury cause greater side effects most notably to reproductive health, birth defects, and other problems.

In reality the river fish are great tasting, and not going to kill you if you eat them in moderation, but if the government doesn't go above and beyond to ensure the publics safety its their buts on the line. Email the local bio, and if its something they would consider they will tell you right away if its worth following up.