Fishermen Like Heavy Metal
By Richard Simms
"Get the Lead Out."
That's the message more fishermen and manufacturers are hearing these days due to health concerns associated with lead products. Look in any fisherman's tackle box and you will find a variety lures and sinkers, all made from lead. They wonder if, or when, they will be forced to "get the lead out."
"I would not be surprised if lead sinkers and jigs were outlawed," said Eric Maurer on the Chattanooga Fishing Internet Forum. According to a division of the U.S. Dept of Health, lead is among the "Top 20 Hazardous Substances."
Maurer however questions whether there is enough scientific evidence about lead's direct impact on the environment to justify its ban.
"The laws are made by politicians who too often vote based on perception and the popular 'scare of the day', not on scientific fact," he said.
The biggest scare these days comes from California's Proposition 65. The law requires that manufacturers of any product containing certain chemicals, including lead, to carry a warning label which reads: "This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm."
Since most manufacturers of fishing products can not be sure where their products will be shipped, their packaging carries the warning wherever it is sold.
Concern about lead poisoning in birds from anglers’ lead weights emerged as a significant issue during the 1970's as mute swan populations declined in Britain. This resulted in the banning of most lead fishing sinkers in the United Kingdom in 1986.
Since then, to protect populations of loons, New Hampshire has banned the use of certain lead fishing sinkers. Maine and New York have banned the sale of lead sinkers weighing a half-ounce or less. In Minnesota a proposed ban on lead sinkers is being hotly debated.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service banned lead fishing products on six national wildlife refuges where loons and trumpeter swans breed. In Canadian national parks it is illegal to use lead fishing sinkers and jigs weighing less than 50 grams.
On the other hand, just this week the European Parliament decided against a ban on fishing products containing lead "because there were no hard facts or scientific evidence as to why lead should be added to a list of 'priority hazardous substances'.
A recent report published by the American Fisheries Society says that there has been some research to study whether or not lead can be dissolved and do harm in aquatic environments, but the report said such studies, "are few and not conclusive."
The ASF report still recommends that it should develop a position "with the aim of reducing to an absolute minimum the introduction of lead into the aquatic environment from fishing activities."
While most anglers believe there is little evidence to support the ban of lead fishing products, they still say such a ban is inevitable.
"Yes, 100%... it's just a matter of time," said Erik Almy.
"Unfortunately, our governments tend to become more intrusive all the time. Restrictive regulations abound, not diminish, so I tend to think that activists will have their way with lead sooner or later," wrote Nathaniel Goggans.
John Lesperance agrees, but for a different reason.
"Yes, it will be banned because fisherman will, for the most part, not fight it until it is too late," he said.
Of course waterfowl hunters are very familiar with the lead ban after the use of lead shot pellets was forbidden for duck and goose hunting beginning in 1991. Waterfowl hunters were forced to starting buying much more expensive lead alternatives such as steel and bismuth.
Such alternatives are available for fishermen with products such as Tru Tungsten. But like alternative shotgun shells, alternative fishing gear is extremely expensive. Most anglers who use it say they do so because it improves their fishing success, not to protect the environment.
Joshua Winchell, a spokesperson for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says the lead fishing products issue is different from shotgun shells for ducks and geese. The USFWS does have regulatory authority over waterfowl hunting since they are migratory. Bass and crappie however don't often swim across state lines, so the federal agency has no authority to regulate them.
Bill Reeves, the Chief of Fisheries for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency says he's heard no talk of such a ban in Tennessee, and he has no plans to propose it.
"I figure if (the federal government) could (ban lead) they would," said Reeves. "But they see it's not expedient to do that. Everybody has what they would like to do versus what they're able to do."
Reeves admitted however that concerns about lead did change his behavior.
"I used to love to make my own leadhead jigs," he said. "I'd order all my stuff out the old Herter's catalog and just had a blast making my own lures. But after all the lead scare came up, I put all that stuff back on the shelf out of concern for my own health. I got to thinking maybe I'd turn into the Mad Hatter or something."
It is doubtful there will be any new, credible research; however the European Parliament says it will revisit the possible ban on lead fishing products again in 2010.
ON THE WEB:
www.fisheries.org/afs/docs/fisheries/fisheries_3305.pdf
www.fws.gov/contaminants/Documents/leadpoisoning2.pdf
www.asafishing.org/asa/images/government/asa_lead_position.pdf
