H&W issues fish advisory for anglers in Lake CDA

Jeff Smith said he doesn’t think much about whether the fish in Lake Coeur d’Alene contain toxins.

Smith, who owns Fins and Feathers Tackle Shop and Guide Service, has been fishing the lake for decades, and eating fish from the Coeur d’Alene system for just as long.

“It’s not something I even think about,” Smith said.

He doesn’t eat a lot, he said, but every once in a while he will keep and eat salmon or pike.

The state Health and Welfare department issued an advisory this week that urges anglers — especially children and pregnant women — to limit their fish consumption from Lake Coeur d’Alene.

The advisories, although they have been issued each summer for decades, have not hit the newspapers because the agency posts them on its webpage.

Niki Forbing-Orr, public information manager for Health and Welfare, said the advisories are not new, but they are meant to give anglers who eat a lot of fish from the Coeur d’Alene system a guide to consumption.

“We think it’s helpful information for people who like to eat fish,” Forbing-Orr said.

According to the department, fish from the Coeur d’Alene Basin were tested for mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and lead and high mercury levels were found in some fish species, including bass, bullhead, northern pike, panfish, and kokanee.

The heavy metals are remnants of the Silver Valley’s mining industry that have been flushed into Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Health and Welfare said mercury levels were similar to other advisories issued in Idaho and that some store-bought fish such as shark, swordfish, and tuna, have higher levels of mercury than fish from the Coeur d’Alene Basin.

The advisory recommends eating younger fish and those lower on the food chain, such as trout and kokanee because they are less contaminated.

Fat should be trimmed and skin and organs removed before cooking fish to reduce the likelihood of contaminants.

Smith was among anglers to participate in the first fish toxicity studies more than 30 years ago, when entire fish including the organs, skin and bones were tested to derive heavy metal levels, he said.

The advisory recommends eating no more than five, 8-ounce servings of Lake Coeur d’Alene northern pike per month, 11 8-ounce servings of panfish, 20 8-ounce servings of kokanee fillets and between two and four 8-ounce meals of Lake Coeur d’Alene bass per month.

The advisory can be found on the Health and Welfare website.

Although Lake Coeur d’Alene is considered a national fishing destination, many anglers prefer to catch and release fish including bass, pike and salmon, Smith said.

Kokanee are among the lake’s most prized eating fish, and they have the lowest levels of mercury according to the advisory. They usually live to be 3 or 4 years.

“That is because they don’t get very old,” Smith said. “They aren’t in the system very long.”