By Debbie Robinson
news@joplinglobe.com
MIAMI, Okla. — Representatives from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality reported Tuesday night on findings of a new study that carries cautions about the consumption of fish caught in the Tar Creek area.
About a half-dozen people attended the public meeting in the Miami High School cafeteria.
Elevated levels of lead, zinc and cadmium were found in fish caught in former mine mill ponds in the Picher-Cardin area, in the Spring and Neosho rivers downstream from the area, in Grand Lake, and in the Grand-Neosho River below Pensacola Dam. The Tar Creek area is a designated Environmental Protection Area Superfund site because of pollution associated with its lead- and zinc-mining history.
Residents of the Tar Creek area already “have a higher exposure level to lead than nonresidents do” said Jay Wright, environmental program director.
Wright said the lead, zinc and cadmium are known to collect in the bones and organs of fish, so the study included various preparation methods including carcass, skin-on fillets and paddlefish eggs.
“Our take-home message we want to leave is, if you want to reduce your exposure to metals in fish, you should be eating boneless, skinless fillets,” Wright said.
Paddlefish and eggs, and catfish showed barely detectable levels of lead, Wright said, so recommendations on consumption levels generally are unrestricted.
Other fish that were studied included nongame fish, such as carp, freshwater drum, redhorse sucker and smallmouth buffalo; bluegill sunfish and green sunfish; and game fish, including white bass, largemouth bass, spotted bass, black crappie and white crappie.
There is a local custom of grinding fish, bones included, and making fish patties or canning the fish. The practice is not recommended, said Monty Elder, emergency response coordinator.
The study’s restrictions were based on healthy eating for small children, who are more at risk for serious health problems if they are exposed to lead.
“We made an assumption that a safe level for a child to consume is a safe level for adults,” Wright said.
An example of the advisories includes consumption of nongame fish in Grand Lake, and the Spring and Neosho rivers.
The advisory recommends a maximum of three meals per month of preparations with bones, or nine meals a month of boneless fillets for fish caught in Spring River.
The advisory for Neosho River is eight meals a month for preparation with bones.
Six meals a month is the maximum recommended for preparations with bones for nongame fish caught in Grand Lake, into which the Spring and Neosho rivers flow.
Game fish were unrestricted in all rivers and lakes studied. But in the case of mill ponds, the study advises limiting consumption to 14 meals a month if the fish are prepared with bones.
The only source where catfish carried a restriction is Spring River. The study advises that meals with Spring River catfish should be limited to nine a month if they are prepared with bones.
Sunfish consumption was unrestricted for fish caught in the Neosho River or Grand Lake, but limited to five meals a month for fish caught in Spring River, if they are prepared with bones.
Wright said ponds and rivers in the Tar Creek area are not only affected by the Picher-Cardin area, but from runoff from lead contamination in former mining fields in the Joplin, Mo., area and in Southeast Kansas.
Free copies
Free copies of the pocket-size, fish-consumption guide will be available at the Ottawa County Health Department, at Twin Bridges State Park, at the local office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and at tribal offices.
