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Itefctnrtt ****" DETROIT, MICH. D. 6H.OSB SUN. 71.631 BUT pcb contamination is a problem DETROI T I'ifcli |,,RESS,,, |.E Sunday. Mor. 14. 76 Great Lakes Salmon, Trout to Be Planted BY TOM OPRE Fraa arm ommr Wrthf _ LANSING -- Nearly 10.6 million young trout and salmon will be dumped in fakes Superior, Michigan, Huron and Erie wa tersheds beginning next month, Department of Natural Re* sources administrators announced here Friday. But in the face of increased concern over pollution contami nation, just how safe will the fish be to catch and eat? Dr. Wayne Tody, deputy director of the DNR, admitted there are still probltms. "Public health officials continue to wan against eating mere than one Greet Lakes trout or salmon meal a week," ha aid, "Yet with one exception, conditions have improved markedly," The exception is PCB contamination, according to Tody, and he and other Great Lakes state fisheries managers are "upset" over leek of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or fed* oral government action on a ban of PCB usage in manufactur ing. PCBa (polychlorinated hiohevnolsl art hydrocarbon com pounds used in electric transformer equipment, certain plastics compounds and a wide variety of other modern products. MICHIGAN'S LEGISLATURE lust last week pasted a bill banning PGB use in this state. Tody said that other Great Lakes states "are following our lead, too, taking unilateral acton to ban use of PCBs. "That may be as effective as a federal ban," he conceded. "It Just lakes longer to implement." Tody said the two other major sources of fish contamination Millions more fish are on the way have declined drastically since their use was banned around the Great Lakes. "Mercury, for instance, was a problem in both Lake St. Clair and Lake Superior," he explained. "With the stoppage of use in Sarnia and the Wyandotte Chemical plant several years ago, we can safely say today that almost ell fish are below the HONS 037110 FDA maximum levels for mercury. "la ether wards, they're safe te eat," he added. lakes the longest while growing," Tody said. "In Lake Michi gan, they'll run over twice the 5 ppm FDA limit. About a third of Lake Superior's fish will run to S or 7 ppm, and Lake Huron's The only exception are the few very large walleye remaining are eomewhere between the other two lakes." from (he days when mercury waa still being dumped. Mercury levels have always been much lower In Like Supe rior fMi. and scientists now think much of it has been absorbed from natural sourcas, mercury actually found in the pro-cam- brim rock shield of the north country. Tody said Michigan's fish would be in even more trouble if the U.S. government follows Canada's lead and drops the ac ceptable PCB level to 2 ppm. "Practically every mature sal- monld we have would be above that," he said. 'There were some chloralkali plants discharging mercury et THERE ARE WAYS to lessen the exposure. All fatty depos Thunder Bay," Tody eaid, "but the Canadian government baa its and belly flaps should be cut away when cleaning the fish cleaned them up." end the skin be removed, also. Oily tissues hold most of the MOST OF TOE LARGER fish that have mercury contamina PCBs -- and DDT remnants, too. tion (roughly one part per million, twice the FDA safe level) The fish should then be cooked by some method to remove ere caught around the Keewenaw Peninsula and Isle Royale. all the oily fat possible. Barbecuing is recommended; so are "It's locale problem, mostly," Tody added. broiling and boiling. DDT pesticide levels in moat fish have dropped below FDA standards In the entire Great Lakes, thanks to effective bans "We feel sure the PCB levels'wouM fellow those of DDT and some years ago. ' . mercury. If wo bad a usage ban," Tody declared, "aod drop ta "Only the oldest, largest salmonids (trout and salmon) with acceptable levels quite rapidly." the highest oil content will still be above safe levels," Tody said. One example is the Siacowet strain of large lake trout la In the meantime, the DNR will continue its heavy plantings Lake Superior, an offshore species that few sport anglers of salmonids in all the big lakes. Lake Michigan will be 3.1 usually encounter. million, mostly in the lower two-thirds of the lake where fisher PCB levels have aot dropped, however, since (hair discovery men are the most numerous. la fish seme six years ago. Tody admits that all popular sal The plant will be composed of 2.25 million coho, 1.8 million monids -- Chinook and cobo salmon, lake trout, browns aod chinqok and about 1.2 million lake trout steelbsed -- all carry PCBs today, and the larger the Individual fish, the more contaminated it is. Lain Huron will get 2.8 yearling age fish, and Lake Superior releases will total about 1.38 million. Some 980,000 fish, mostly Taka the Mg lake trout, for instance, which stay in the salmon, will be dumped in Lake Erie. ________________ i-------------------------------- - r HOMS 037U1