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[#0000FF]I have tried to find whether or not there have been any measurable toxin residues in the fish from the recent algae bloom. I addressed this concern to Chris Crockett...DWR Springville office. This is his reply:
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Pat, we are currently coordinating collection of tissue samples with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) but collection will likely not happen until next week. Jurisdiction for a potential consumption warning falls under DEQ. They are currently encouraging everyone to remove skin/guts from all fish meant for consumption and rinse meat thoroughly with clean water. Cyanotoxins can accumulate in muscle tisse (i.e. what we would eat), but its much more common in organs/guts. The literature suggest the health risk from consuming a normal amount of fish from a lake experiencing a short term bloom is relatively low. I have requested additional information to address your question from individuals with DEQ and the Bureau of Epidemiology, so stay tuned.
On a separate topic, the county with some funds from DWR/WRI did some road improvements at the Knolls in June, we are still working on a formal agreement....
[font "tahoma, sans-serif"][size 2]Chris Crockett
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[font "tahoma, sans-serif"][size 2]Central Region Aquatics Manager
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[font "tahoma, sans-serif"][size 2]Utah Division of Wildlife Resources[/size][/font]
[font "tahoma, sans-serif"][size 2]1115 North Main Street[/size][/font]
[font "tahoma, sans-serif"][size 2]Springville, UT 84663[/size][/font]
[font "tahoma, sans-serif"][size 2](801) 491-5655[/size][/font]
[font "tahoma, sans-serif"][size 2][url "mailto:chriscrockett@utah.gov"]chriscrockett@utah.gov[/url][/size][/font]
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Never have and never will fish that hole, if someone needs a test to prove that eating fish is unsafe from a place with that kind of history then they likely deserve the Darwin award. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but with all of the health scares UL has had in recent years I would stay as far away from there as possible, not to mention we have a lot of other options for fishing.
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[#0000FF]Since you are being harsh, I will be harsh. Your reply is reflective of the general (uninformed) attitude that most Utahns have about Utah Lake. What health scares? PCB in carp? There is no mercury, arsenic or other toxic crap in Utah Lake like there is in many of our high mountain "pristine" waters.
Utah Lake is shallow and because of the carp it gets muddy when the wind blows. But most (uninformed) folks equate that with pollution. If you want, you can go to the [url "http://www.fishadvisories.utah.gov/"]FISH ADVISORIES[/url] website. That will give you the breakdown for most Utah waters, including Utah Lake.
Utah Lake had a lot of abuse in the past...between agricultural runoff, Geneva Steel waste water and untreated sewage. Most of the major abuses are decades in the past...and Utah Lake is flushed out at least once a year by runoff. There are virtually no traces of the past in current water samples.
The worst problem today is the high percentage of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous) from treated wastewater. It is safe to drink but produces algae.
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I am very certain that all culinary water is TESTED to make sure that is safe to drink. If you fish in Utah Lake please catch and release. I will be glad to eat those discusting fish.
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Well as a Darwin award winner, I have to reply to your uneducated, ignorant post there fish hntr. Why don't you go ahead and share all this wonderful knowledge you have, that we don't, about how toxic Utah Lake is? Since your such a genius, why don't you back up your post with facts and links to sites where we can all find this information? Or maybe your lips were running before your brain was engaged? Folks have eaten fish from Utah Lake for generations. Read Tubedudes post and remember he has forgotten more about Utah lake than you will ever know! Just because a lake is shallow and has a huge carp problem, doesn't qualify it for a superfund site! Utah Lake has its problems, but spewing hysterical silliness is simply stupid.
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Ya done good bovineowner, I'm behind ya 100%. Gotta add this, TubeDude has forgotten a heckuva lot more about Utah Lake than, I'm betting, anyone in Utah is likely to learn in the forseeable future.
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Geez guys, take it easy. Everybody has an opinion. This is not a court of law requiring evidence, just a fishing forum. I don't want to eat fish from UL, I have before and I'm still alive but would rather not the last few years. I hope I don't get chastised but Utah Lake can be pretty gross to look at. Why would I want to eat fish from there?
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To reinforce what TD has said, Utah Lake, biologically speaking, is cleaner than Bear Lake. Contrast the two. Bear Lake is a deep, clear, cold body of water, where the biological activity is very low and slow. Any thing that goes into the lake, stays there and builds up over time. The concentration of heavy metals like lead, arsenic, zinc, etc is very high. Utah lake on the other hand is a very shallow, turbid, warm body of water. Any thing that goes into the lake is used by the biomass of the lake and broken down. The primary life form are diatoms, microscopic organisms that have a calcareous shell. They utilize most everything that goes into the lake, incorporate it into their structure and then it sinks to the bottom when the die. Most heavy metals and organic toxins are tied up by these organisms and they become part of the calcareous shell. The toxins and such are insoluble and there for inert.
The current algae bloom is the result of to much phosphorous and nitrogen in the lake and the inability of the biomass to utilize it. The blue/green algae were able to feed off it and explode, resulting in the mess you see. Under normal circumstances, the biomass of the lake will take care of this without any dire circumstances.
Utah Lake looks a mess, but biological speaking it is cleaner than most of the other waters in the state !!
PS: The fish are fine, don't sweat it !!!
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I understand the dynamics of the biology. Utah Lake is just not very pleasant to look at. Long before this whole algae bloom mess it was not much to look at either. From an airplane on Sunday I didn't even know what I was looking at when I woke up from some turbulence. Up close (if you can get past all the garbage) it's even worse.
You can polish a turd all you want but it's still a turd lol. I'm not saying fish in any other water are better for you because the water 'looks' better, I get that. Heavy metals, pesticides, etc. I'm not much of a fish eater but speaking on a palatability level, it's a visual turn off looking at Utah Lake and having any desire at all to throw a fish in the frying pan. That's just my opinion. Feel free to eat all those yummy cats and I hear pickled carp is delish!
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[quote fsh4fun05] I'm not much of a fish eater but speaking on a palatability level, it's a visual turn off looking at Utah Lake and having any desire at all to throw a fish in the frying pan. That's just my opinion. Feel free to eat all those yummy cats and I hear pickled carp is delish! [/quote]
This is the thing with UL. There is no level of evidence which can be presented that will convince a certain segment of the public that the fish there are safe and/or tasty. Purely psychological, but just as real as if there was a genuine safety problem.
That said, there is a big difference between the answer above and pronouncements calling those that do eat UL fish "Darwin Award" candidates and making dire claims about so called safety issues that are erroneous.
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I second what fsh4fun05 has said. Its all about aesthetics and what you want to believe. Personally, I would not eat fish from Utah Lake due to its history and where it is downstream from pretty much the most densely populated place in Utah. Doesn't mean the fish are bad for ya, but each to their own. I'd rather eat fish from a cold, clear, aesthetically pleasing place like Bear Lake, Flaming Gorge, etc. However, saying Utah Lake is biologically cleaner than Bear Lake is not true either. With that said....I'm going fishing.
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Many yrs ago back when Geneva was dumping all their crap in the water a Freind of mine was cut badly by the boat prop while skiing, when they tested the wound the Dr said he was very lucky to be cut in a clean lake, he never received an infection and the Dr never knew he was at ut lake. I've fished where they do dump treated waste into the lake and yes I would watch them test the waste water where it enters the lake multiple times a day.. I did not eat the fish I caught in that area!! But I do from other area's around the lake. I won't eat fish from their this year or probably not until the lake gets flushed out again, but I will still fish it and enjoy getting some nice cats out of their. And for those that don't know, those channels have two livers that help them clean themselves of dang near all toxins. Oh no now I'm writing tubedude novels I've got to much time on my hands now days lol. Enjoy just getting out guys/gals....jon
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"Oh no now I'm writing tubedude novels I've got to much time on my hands now days lol."
[#0000FF]Hey. Now you're gettin' pers'nal.
Bottom line...we all have the freedom to make our own choices...for our own reasons...about whether or not to eat fish from Utah Lake.
Like yourself, I plan to await test results and hopefully a good spring flushing of Utah Lake...before I dine on any smokitty from there. But I will be going afloat to rassle with a few of 'em. They need exercise if they're gonna stay healthy.
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Don't get me wrong Pat. The boat misses Utah Lake, it certainly can hold some high quality fish of all sorts of species.
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Utah Lake is upstream from the heavy population. The Jordan river flows from south to north. Both Jordan rivers in the world flow this way. One dumps into the Dead Sea one dumps into the Great Salt lake.
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Have you been in Utah County lately? If Salt Lake had more people in numbers would you still believe that Utah County is not heavily populated?
I'm really curious as to my peeps eating fish out of Utah Lake. No need for dramatic conversation. Yes or no.
It's hard sometimes to respond to a new thread sometimes. No matter how long a forum has been around having an online conversation sucks. When are we going for beers and catfish so we can talk about this?
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I thought this was a fishing forum. I didn't realize it was fish eating, my lake is better than your Lake forum. This whole thread should be moved to the trash.[reply][/reply]
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From studying in my field I know that that nutrients, suspended solids, amount of dissolved oxygen, temperature and flow, pH, fecal bacteria and pathogens, dissolved solids, and transparency are 8 factors that influence water quality. In some of these parameters, UT lake performs well in, others not, and others I have no clue. I think the take away point like TD and others have said is that Utah Lake isn't as bad as it's made out to be and at the very minimum is comparable to other more "pristine waters"; pristine waters usually aren't actually pristine. There definitely is a false stigma about Utah Lake and the Jordan River.
My family reacted similar to the public in that they didn't take me seriously when I told them that mining and such used to take place around places like Deer Creek and that there are high levels of various chemicals and such. I finally joked with my family that I bet where I fish on the river is suitable for trout. Sure enough I got to test it with special water testing quality and it was. I don't know about all portions but where I tested it was good. I took a picture of the results and told them now what? They still didn't care.
Turbidity is the least important water quality assessment techniques for evaluating ecological health. Sometimes poor turbidity can indicate poor water quality but most of the time it doesn't and other water quality parameters are looked at. Turbity is more of a visual/experiential impact to users who unfortunately don't know much about this type of stuff.
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Good for you, that's your opinion. I respect that. So, how about you? Not would you but DO you eat fish from Utah Lake? Yes or no.
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