Consuming river fish

[beaver hunter]

I have some buddies there totally paranoid with consuming any river fish due to plant and farm runoff etc, curious what everyone's opinion is. I'm heading to pembina this week, I don't think I'd have a problem consuming a keeper.

[Og Dumi]

The fishing regs online have a pretty good guideline on how many fish to eat per week etc.

[RavYak]

As long as you aren't eating the fish every day you should be fine. I think the recommended limit is something like 1 a week.

If people knew what was in the food they get at stores and restaurants they would probably rather eat a fish out of a river any day...

[silver]

I remember reading something the sask govt put out on eating the fish out of the N. sask river. I can't remember the specifics, but the smaller ones had less time to accumulate the poisons.

[canadiantdi]

walleye out of the pembina are tastey!

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by RavYak

As long as you aren't eating the fish every day you should be fine. I think the recommended limit is something like 1 a week.

If people knew what was in the food they get at stores and restaurants they would probably rather eat a fish out of a river any day...

Bingo, I eat river fish often. If you think of all the people in the southern US regularly eating bottom feeders like catfish out of river systems that have been collecting all kinds of pollutants for tens of thousands of miles. Or from the great lakes or gulf of Mexico which pretty much act as a collecting point for multiple river systems many of which are far more polluted than anything we've got here. At only a couple thousand k's and a few pulp mills from the headwaters, tops, how bad can the fish actually be?

[trigger7mm]

I talked to a biologist in B.C. once about this very subject. What he told me was that the normal person consuming a few fish now and then would never accumulate enough mercury in their system to be traceable in high enough amounts to cause a problem. When it becomes traceable in noticeable concentrations, is when you find people that work on fishing boats, for example, that eat fish every day over a longer period of time. He also said that once they quit eating fish, that traces of mercury in their systems drop off quickly. A feed or two a week is no problem. As long as they taste good, go for it.

[fishermansfriend]

Originally Posted by trigger7mm

I talked to a biologist in B.C. once about this very subject. What he told me was that the normal person consuming a few fish now and then would never accumulate enough mercury in their system to be traceable in high enough amounts to cause a problem. When it becomes traceable in noticeable concentrations, is when you find people that work on fishing boats, for example, that eat fish every day over a longer period of time. He also said that once they quit eating fish, that traces of mercury in their systems drop off quickly. A feed or two a week is no problem. As long as they taste good, go for it.

never had any problem, i love the way they taste!

[Graffy91]

Originally Posted by beaver hunter

I have some buddies there totally paranoid with consuming any river fish due to plant and farm runoff etc, curious what everyone's opinion is. I'm heading to pembina this week, I don't think I'd have a problem consuming a keeper.

Better than eating anything from Mcdonalds, I'll tell you that.

Old guy out by the farm has been eating fish out the NSR for the last 40 years, he still kickin' it strong at 86 years old.

People often over think too much, I would much rather eat a fish out the river than a can of tuna.

[catnthehat]

I've never worried about it myself, considering what some store bought food gets pumped into it!
Cat

[Icouldeatababydeer]

as long as your not pregnant i wouldn't worry about it. I'm sure McDicks is much worse

[RavYak]

Sort of inline with my original comment, if you think the rivers are bad I sure hope you don't eat anything out of the ocean...

[beaver hunter]

With a handle like mine I'm not pregnant.......yet. I'm of the same opinion in regards to consuming river fish! Mind you, I've yet to catch a keeper walleye out of the pembina

[stubblejumper01]

A few years back I called F&W and asked about fish from the Pembina. I was told the fish have never been tested for contaminants. There are no pulp mills or major industry along the river besides some logging in the upper reaches and then farming from around Lodgepole to the mouth near Flatbush.
There are a lot of farms and cattle along there and it is kind of sad to see the livestock runoff going into the river. This probably increases the weed growth and erosion but I don't think it really makes the fish inedible or hazardous.
All the fish I've caught out of there over the years have looked healthy and the keepers taste fine too. Never seen any abscesses or deformed fish.
I feel better about these fish than I do about seafood from the Gulf of Mexico.