Lead sinkers -- citations, please

[danbob]

I'm sorry, but I'm a journalist. Been so for 2 decades now.
Bob Boese does us all a disservice by not citing the sources of his information on lead sinker fishing tackle research. It's one thing to write an FAOL article about fishing and tying and selecting flies, but when you venture into the realm of public policy it's best to CYA. Your readers have a right to know!

"Simply stated, the impact of lead fishing tackle has not been documented or even well studied."

Oh? I only had time to spend an hour on NEXIS today, and I found thousands of citations. A look into university research papers and dissertations uncovered dozens more recent studies about lead fishing tackle and bird mortality. They dissect the Tufts study and the USF&W analysis of it quite thoroughly. There's a 'straw man' in the article, too -- fish kills. The issue has never been fish kills, but BIRD kills from lead fishing tackle (and of course more importantly, by volume, lead shot from bird hunters). Boese does mention this eventually, to his credit.

Twiss, 1998:
In North America, the Common Loon is most commonly reported as dying from this cause, although at least 23 other species?are vulnerable. Bans on the use of lead fishing weights have been imposed in Yellowstone National Park, Redrocks Lake National Wildlife Refugee, and the National Elk Refugee in the USA. 22% of 202 Common Loons found dead in New England had ingested lead objects, principally sinkers and jigs. All of the loons that had ingested lead were adults representing 38% of the 115 adults examined. The percentage is even higher if birds collected only from fresh water are considered, i.e. 57% of 74 adult birds. These results show that lead toxicosis is a major mortality factor for Common Loons in Eastern North America, although the data probably represents a portion of the birds dying from this cause. Lead poisoned waterfowl commonly hide in dense cover as they become weaker, and are easily overlooked even by those searching for them.

And the author NEVER loses a hare's ear nymph weighted with lead, and birds never eat it? Hmmm, maybe I need to pick up some fishing tips from him.... (sorry, that was snarky).

Lead is a horrible, nasty poison. Ask anyone whose child was poisoned by lead-based paint, or absorbed lead in a mine. Does *anyone* on FAOL still crimp a lead sinker on their nymping rig with their teeth like my Dad used to? Oh my.

Suggested reading, and sources easily available (this is not Nexis stuff, though that was much more enlightening).

WBCI ?Get the Lead Out? webpage http://www.wisconsinbirds.org/leadpoisoning.htm

Wildlife Without Lead http://www.hawkwatch.org/lead_site/index.htm

Raptor Education Group, Inc. ?lead sinker exchange? webpage, with a list of nonlead tackle suppliers/manufacturers http://www.raptoreducationgroup.org/...ange&NewsID=11

Lead and Wildlife: A Bibliography of Selected Citations ? 2001 http://www.hawkwatch.org/lead_site/b...bliography.pdf

Let?s Get the Lead Out! (Non-lead alternatives for fishing tackle) (Minnesota) http://www.moea.state.mn.us/reduce/sinkers.cfm

Loons and Lead Poisoning (Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine) http://www.tufts.edu/vet/loons/loon.html

Fish Lead Free (Canadian Wildlife Service) http://www.cws-scf.ec.gc.ca/fishing/index_e.cfm

Lead Poisoning (Michigan) http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/1,1607,7...76--CI,00.html

The Use of Nontoxic Shot for Hunting in Washington http://www.wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/wate...cshotfinal.htm

Lead Toxicosis in Michigan Loons from Ingestion of Lead Sinkers and Jigs: A Real Problem http://www.michiganloons.org/lead.htm

Fact Sheet: Lead Poisoning in Migratory Birds (National Wildlife Health Center, Madison) http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/disease_information/other_diseases/lead_poisoning.jsp

Lead and Fishing ? Sinkers and Animals (U.S. EPA) http://www.epa.gov/owow/fish/animals.html

Lead Fishing Tackle (State Environmental Resource Center) http://www.serconline.org/lead/pkg_frameset.html

LoonWatch: Get the Lead Out!: http://www.northland.edu/Northland/S...TheLeadOut.htm


Numbers of lead poisoned Bald Eagles by statehttp://biology.usgs.gov/s+t/imagefiles/b213f02.htm

Environment Canada - toxicity of lead shot and sinkers http://www.cws-scf.ec.gc.ca/publicat...88/chap3_e.cfm

Swans and lead poisoning (info from a die-off in 2000 in the Pacific Northwest) http://www.swansociety.org/issues/lead/0102lead.html

Trumpeter Swan society - more on lead poisoning of swanshttp://www.trumpeterswansociety.org/washington/lead.htm

Minnesota Public Radio - lead sinkers and poisoning (a still effective re-telling of this information) http://news.minnesota.publicradio.or...-m/index.shtml

Loon Preservation Committee (search their pages for info on loons and lead; other contaminants) http://www.loon.org/

Additional Literature

Clark, A. J. and A. M. Scheuhammer. 2003. Lead poisoning of upland foraging birds of prey in Canada. Ecotoxicology 12:23-30.

Sanborn, W. n.d. Lead Poisoning of North American Wildlife from lead shot and lead fishing tackle . Draft. HawkWatch International, 1800 South West Temple, Suite 226, Salt Lake City, UT 84115. (This 31-page review is the best single source of information and contains 125 references through 2002.)

Scheuhammer, A.M., S.L. Money, D.A. Kirk, and G. Donaldson. 2003. Lead fishing sinkers and jigs in Canada: Review of their use patterns and toxic impacts on wildlife. Occasional Paper 108. Canadian Wildlife Service, Ottawa.

Scheuhammer, A. M. and S. L. Norris. 1995.
A review of the environmental impacts of lead shotshell ammunition and lead fishing weights in Canada .
A review of the environmental impacts of lead shotshell ammunition and lead fishing weights in Canada. Occasional Paper 88. Canadian Wildlife Service, Ottawa.

Strom, S. M., K. Patnode, J. Langenberg, B. Bodenstein, T. Scheuhammer, and B. Beard. 2004. Determination of the extent and source of lead contamination in woodcock (Scolopax minor) from Wisconsin. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Final Report.

1. USEPA 1994. Lead Fishing Sinkers: Response to Citizens' Petition and Proposed Ban, Proposed Rule. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.
2. Eisler, Ronald, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "Lead Hazards to Fish, Wildlife, and Invertebrates: A Synoptic Review." Biological Report 85(1.14), Contaminant Hazard Reviews, April 1988.
3. New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Fishing/get_the_lead_out.htm.
4. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1986. "Migratory bird hunting; availability of a final supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) on the use of lead shot for hunting migratory birds in United States." Federal Register 51(124):23443-23447; also US Fish and Wildlife Service. 1987. "Migratory bird hunting; zones in which lead shot will be prohibited for the taking of waterfowl, coots and certain other species in the 1987-88 hunting season." Federal Register 52(139):27352-27368.
5. Sanborn, Wendy. "Lead Poisoning of North American Wildlife from Lead Shot and Lead Fishing Tackle."
6. Sidor, Inga F., Pokras, Mark A., Major, Andrew R., Poppenga, Robert H., Taylor, Kate M. Miconia, Rose M. "Mortality of Common Loons in New England, 1987 to 2000." Journal of Wildlife Diseases, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 306-315.
7. Scheuhammer, A.M., Money, S.L., Kirk, D.A., Donaldson, G. "Lead fishing sinkers and jigs in Canada: Review of their use patterns and toxic impacts on wildlife." Occasional Paper Number 108, Canadian Wildlife Service, March 2003.
8. Scheuhammer, A.M., Norris, S.L. "A review of environmental impacts of lead shotshell ammunition and lead fishing weights in Canada." Occasional Paper Number 88, Canadian Wildlife Service, August 1995.
9. Vermont Statutes, Sec. 1. 10 V.S.A. ? 4606(g) and Sec. 2. 10 V.S.A. ? 4614.
10. Maine Statutes, Title 12: Conservation, Part 13: Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Subpart 4: Fish and Wildlife, Subchapter 5: Unlawful Fishing Methods, ?12663: Unlawful sale of lead sinkers.
11. State of New York Environmental Conservation Law, Section 11-0308.

Credibility comes from research into prior art, when you are discussing public policy.
Talk about fishin' all you want, and I won't say a word.


DAN FINK