Lead ban coming

[Bottomgun]

Hi Guys, I'm one of your lurker Cape Cod members that likes to read your stuff. This is the best surf fishing forum.

I'm in the marine biology biz and part of my job this past 40 years is to collect coastal sediments and fish tissue for toxicity analysis. All those 4 oz. lead weights and such accumulating on the bottom for decades dissolve into the sand and mud and the fish eggs and fry absorb the stuff, which kills, stunts, or sickens them during the fragile development stage, which means less fish in the long run for us, especially to eat. The dissolved lead really hits the mud worms, crabs, and other benthic infauna hard, which means much less natural food for the little fry and fish to feed on, especially in our estuaries where little flushing occurs.

So the fisheries scientists say the only way to stop the negative impact on our fisheries is to stop introducing lead into the environment. There have been tons of lead fishing weights lost within casting distance of our shorelines, so the lead poisoning of the water-seabed interface where all the little critters live is severe.

I'm only passing along this info so you guys don't feel so bad about springing extra bucks for non-lead wights when it happens. Think of it this way; if we stop losing (putting) lead on the bottom today, in a century or so, maybe your great-great grandkids will have some fish to catch. As you guys know, there used to be 125 pounder stripers all over the place 50-60 years ago. When I started surf fishing the Vineyard and Race Point in the '70s, 75 pounders were the big ones of the day. Nowadays, you guys and others talk about catching the 50 pounder. If we keep slamming the hatching critters with lead soup in their habitat, your great-great grandkids may be plugging for only 10-20 pounders.

We need to stop putting mercury in the water too, but that would require shutting down all our coal power plants, and that ain't going to happen anytime soon, but lead can be removed more easily which is why we're seeing the new legislation.

But don't let me get you down. Good fishing to you all.

[numbskull]

References please.

Metallic lead dissolves very slowly in seawater and the amount introduced into the environment by lost fishing tackle is likely ridiculously small relative to the amount washing into the water from erosion, and the amount introduced into the environment through other sources (such as decades of leaded gasoline burning, smelting, bottom paint, paint manufacture, and mining runoff).

Certainly I may be wrong, but if you wish to come to a fishing forum and imply that our actions are hurting a fishery we all care about, some supporting scientific information would be most helpful and appreciated.

As for "125 lb stripers all over the place 50-60 years ago", that is way off target as well and calls into question the accuracy of the other information you have posted.

Sorry to question you, and I don't wish to discourage your participation, but some support for the information you have posted is certainly called for. Thanks

[Bigredxlt]

Originally Posted by numbskull

References please.

Metallic lead dissolves very slowly in seawater and the amount introduced into the environment by lost fishing tackle is likely ridiculously small relative to the amount washing into the water from erosion, and the amount introduced into the environment through other sources (such as decades of leaded gasoline burning, smelting, bottom paint, paint manufacture, and mining runoff).

Certainly I may be wrong, but if you wish to come to a fishing forum and imply that our actions are hurting a fishery we all care about, some supporting scientific information would be most helpful and appreciated.

As for "125 lb stripers all over the place 50-60 years ago", that is way off target as well and calls into question the accuracy of the other information you have posted.

Sorry to question you, and I don't wish to discourage your participation, but some support for the information you have posted is certainly called for. Thanks

Numbskull, you didnt provide any references for your assumptions either...

[Bottomgun]

Originally Posted by numbskull

References please.

Certainly I may be wrong,...

As for "125 lb stripers all over the place 50-60 years ago", that is way off target

You're not wrong in any way. The lead pollution comes from everywhere like you say. I was just laying out one of the many reasons we try to stop introducing lead in the water/sediments, which can be picked up by fish, birds and other aquatic life. It is toxic stuff.

Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.%$56(8):%$1494-1503%$(1999)

Lead (Pb) and water

I was off target on the 50-60 years. More like 80-100 years. I remember seeing old B/W photos of New England commercial fisherman hauling in 100+ pound stripers from the 1920s/30s era. These photos were on old university library tin-type photos, and they obviously have not been uploaded, because I would have liked to find one to post here. I could only find a reference for one 125 pounder caught before turn of the last century (1891), but they were out there in big numbers before our fishing methods got so efficient.

"Maximum size: Striped bass generally grow to lengths of up to 59 inches and weights of 55 to 77 pounds. The largest striped bass on record is a 125-pound female caught off North Carolina in 1891."

FishWatch - Atlantic Striped Bass

My only motivation for commenting was because some posters seem to be PO'ed that they might have to spend more for non-lead fishing weights, and I have tried to offer up a justification for the thinking behind the rule making that may result in the ban of lead weights, if it comes to that, so that in the end maybe folks won't be so PO'ed about the switchover from lead. Simple as that.

Cheers.