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Originally Posted by coyotezh
just watched news from globle TV that the algae at Lac Ste Anne blooms and health authority has issued a safty concern warning.
Does this mean the fishing is over on this lake? I haven't filled my tags yet.  |
There needs to be some clarification around these issues.
First of all, the toxin - microcystin - that Alberta Health Services is referring to when posting beaches is water soluble and thus does not passively cross cell membranes nor does it accumulate in the fatty flesh of fish (or any other animals). It's nothing like heavy metals or fat soluble man made chemicals. This toxin is mostly specific to liver tissue as liver cells have the proper proteins required for toxin uptake. Hence the liver is the most likely organ for accumulation in fish. On that note it's best not to eat fish liver!
The fact is we don't know to what extent microcystin accumulates in muscle (filet meat) of Alberta sport fish. There is some research conducted at fish farms in the southern USA indicating some species -mainly planktivorous, but not piscivorous - fish, such as silver carp and tilapia can accumulate microcystin toxin. Personally, I do not believe this happens in the top predatory fish like walleye and pike, but we'll know more later this year as studies are being funded by Alberta Health and ESRD to shed light on this. In the meantime, AH, AHS and ESRD suggests to limit consumption until further evidence suggests otherwise. Sounds like good advice to me but I'm primarily catch and release anyway.
Also, it should be noted that AHS posts human health 'risk' advisories - these ARE NOT lake closures
per se but rather strongly worded advice to convey the risks - as far as we understand from CURRENT research - to human health from contacting the water. In fact, they can't actually close a lake as only the federal gov't can do that (I believe transport Canada under the navigable waters act or something similar). So you can still do whatever you wish.
In addition to this, I can tell you that Dept of Health, AHS and ESRD are investing significantly in research to support the development of an (scientific) evidence-based approach to monitoring and advisories for toxic cyanobacteria in Alberta recreational waters. This is in support of proposed recreational water quality guidelines due out shortly from Health Canada.