News

Fish advisories should include multiple contaminants, study says

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By MORGAN LINN
Capital News Service

LANSING — Great Lakes fish consumption advisories could be inadequate and exposing consumers to higher levels of toxic chemicals than anticipated. A new study says that advisories don’t include what happens when more than one chemical is present in a fish. This means the advisories are “probably deficient in protecting the health of human consumers,” the study says. In Canada, fish eaters who follow advisories could be exposed to four or more times the amount of contaminants than is considered safe, the study says. Though the study was done in the Canadian waters of the Great Lakes, the findings could be highly applicable to Great Lakes states as well, Nilima Gandhi, co-author of the study and a researcher at the University of Toronto, said in an email.

Agriculture

Fish virus threatens aquaculture industry

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By HOLLY DRANKHAN
Capital News Service
LANSING – Although no fish with internal bleeding or bulging eyes have been reported by fish farms in Michigan or elsewhere in the Great Lakes region, symptoms of a highly contagious virus that has bruised the profits of many businesses. Federal regulation of viral hemorrhagic septicemia – or VHS – caused a business disruption years ago that some fish farmers say continues to haunt them, but aquaculturists hope new management methods can combat disease risks and help stabilize the fledgling industry. Since it was first detected in the region almost a decade ago, VHS has been found in wild fish in all five Great Lakes, Lake St. Clair, the St. Lawrence River and several area inland lakes, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.