I guess you want to show and tell?
Yeah, absolutely.
What do we have in here?
Right, we have years
worth of fish samples in
here that we've
gotten from Glyphwick and
you can see we have
some from 2013,
2011.
We have a variety of
both, this one is whitefish,
lake trout, we've a lot of
spring walleye samples.
By far the most what we do is
spring walleyes, so we get
between...
350 and 450 spring
walleye samples annually from
Glyphwick and we've
been analyzing those for mercury and
every year when we are done
analyzing them we store them in
these freezers so
we archive the samples in case
anyone would like to analyze them
for something later on or
in case we have to go back and
answer other questions about mercury
so we've we have
four freezers that are full,
this full of mercury samples
dating back to 1996.
So it's been a really good archive
so that people can go back and
look at potential metals that,
other metals or other chemicals
that become of interest that
we didn't know were a problem and
now we're learning are more
problematic such as potentially
PFAS.
That seems to be the most obvious
one, that you,
I mean, it does seem like that's an
open, an invitation to figure out,
okay, when did it first start
appearing in fish?
It is.
One thing we have to be a little bit
careful about with the archive
samples is the
processing that we used,
you know, from the fileting
to the grinding to
the sample containers themselves.
Is it compatible with PFAS analysis?
Because we don't want to be a
part of the problem
in the analysis of that.
So, but it is.
A potential source.
We've had people go back and look at
PCBs and other
different things that are in those
samples.
So broaden this out for me,
obviously you're with the Lake
Superior Research Institute.
What is it that it does?
I mean, you're part of this
relationship with GlyphWhip, but
you've given me the broader picture
in the context of walleye
is what we're interested in, but a
lot of the research that goes into
it.
Right, so the
Lake Superior Research Institute has
been here.
We do grant-funded research,
and we've had a relationship with
GLIFWC since the middle
of the 1990s.
So we receive samples
from them, we
do the mercury analysis on
them, and then we give
the analysis, the concentrations
of mercury back to glyphic
and then they use that
information.
To make maps
where they do consumption
advisories of lakes that
are in the seeded territories.
And they do it on a basis of
a couple of different things.
They do the
women of childbearing age
and young children.
And then they have the adults
that are beyond childbearing age
and males because
mercury is a neurotoxin
and so it's more of a concern
in younger children
and women of childbearing age
than it is in adult males or
women beyond childbeareing age.
So you're one of the first ones to
see the info come out.
Had there been times where you're
like, whoa.
There are sometimes I see a fish
that I go, oh well I would not want
to eat the fish from that lake.
And there are certain lakes that are
certainly higher
in concentration in mercury than
other lakes.
It has a lot to do with the ecology
of the,
just what's around certain lakes,
what kind of, if they have a lot of
swampy areas around them or if they
a lot of rock,
more like granite or,
basalt around them that's going to
have an impact on how much mercury
is present in the fish.
So, you said that one was kind
of the baseline for when you start
to worry?
Is, er, what a...
I guess, walk me through, because
those were like the .35...
Right!
Right, the fish that we looked at
today, they were in about the 0.3
milligrams per
kilogram of fish
that were looking at.
Those I would say are not a high
concern. Again, it depends on
your age and
the frequency that you're
eating the fish, certainly.
Yeah my general rule after
having done this for many years is
that I try not to eat any
walleye that are over 20 inches.
That seems to be kind of a good
cut off.
It's not safe in every lake
to eat fish that are in
that size range but
that's generally I would say
a pretty safe area.
So what do you, so what is
the one break threshold
or where's where's the point where
you said, oh that is a that's a
link that no one should be eating
this.
Yeah, I'm
not exactly sure right now what
the concentration is
where we're calling, you know,
things have changed over the years.
So one used to be kind
of the mark that we would use as
like people probably shouldn't be
eating any fish that are
in that concentration.
So I would say that that certainly
would not be
eating it, but because most people
don't know Just
what If they take a fish out
of a lake, they're not going to know
what concentration that is.