Abraham Lake Safe To Eat?

[RatherBFishn]

Good day I was eyeing up trying Abraham lake out but noticed it is filled by the North Saskatchewan River... I can find no testing data for the lake but would assume you shouldn't eat the fish as in theory would have the same mercury levels as the river, anyone have any idea?

[Passthru]

That’s way upstream. Should be safe I’d think.

[trigger7mm]

I had a discussion once with a fisheries biologist about mercury in fish. He said for mercury to show up in your system, you would have to be practically living of a fish diet. He also said that mercury didn’t last very long in your system once you cut back on eating it. There’s more harmful additives in a wiener than there are in eating fish from time to time. It’s funny how people can drive around in a city, breathing in exhaust fumes on a daily basis, and be worried about mercury poisoning from a feed of fish.

[FlyTheory]

The benefits of eating fish vastly outweigh the detriment of the Hg found in the fish. Especially if eaten infrequently. Especially eating wild (or anything wild for the most part), you’re probably safer than eating store bought fish.

[Mr Flyguy]

On page 25 of the 2022 guide to Alberta Sport Fishing regulations you will find a search direction for "Fish Consumption Advisory". Once at the mywildalberta.ca site you have to dig around a bit and will eventually end up on an Alberta govt. site which has a detailed report on mercury levels in fish in a whole slew of water bodies. No info on Abraham Lake specifically that I could see but it's so far upstream on the NSR system probably OK to catch and eat!

As noted earlier, likely better for you than farmed Atlantic salmon!

[RatherBFishn]

Originally Posted by trigger7mm

I had a discussion once with a fisheries biologist about mercury in fish. He said for mercury to show up in your system, you would have to be practically living of a fish diet. He also said that mercury didn’t last very long in your system once you cut back on eating it. There’s more harmful additives in a wiener than there are in eating fish from time to time. It’s funny how people can drive around in a city, breathing in exhaust fumes on a daily basis, and be worried about mercury poisoning from a feed of fish.

That's why you don't listen to a fish biologist about human ingestion of heavy metals. While the detrimental effects of mercury on adults is variable frequent overexposure cause neurological diseases, but in children it causes impairment of mental development.

[Jim Blake]

Abraham Lake is about as good as it gets. It is primarily supplied by Glacial melt. The colour of the water certainly gives this away. I've eaten lots of fish from there and they are superb!! Good luck!

It might be a bit silty for a while on the West end after all this rain.

[RatherBFishn]

Originally Posted by Jim Blake

Abraham Lake is about as good as it gets. It is primarily supplied by Glacial melt. The colour of the water certainly gives this away. I've eaten lots of fish from there and they are superb!! Good luck!

It might be a bit silty for a while on the West end after all this rain.

Thanks for your reply and everyone else, since we are on it, any advice where to go and what works lol

[trigger7mm]

Originally Posted by RatherBFishn

That's why you don't listen to a fish biologist about human ingestion of heavy metals. While the detrimental effects of mercury on adults is variable frequent overexposure cause neurological diseases, but in children it causes impairment of mental development.

Yes, when eaten in excessive amounts. If you lived off fish, this could be the case. Ever stop to think about the additives that are put in processed food to keep them from spoiling? I’ll take natural over processed every time. Mercury poisoning is far down my list of health concerns.

[Mr Flyguy]

Originally Posted by trigger7mm

Yes, when eaten in excessive amounts. If you lived off fish, this could be the case. Ever stop to think about the additives that are put in processed food to keep them from spoiling? I’ll take natural over processed every time. Mercury poisoning is far down my list of health concerns.

That's what the Mad Hatter said!

[stubblejumper01]

Originally Posted by trigger7mm

Yes, when eaten in excessive amounts. If you lived off fish, this could be the case. Ever stop to think about the additives that are put in processed food to keep them from spoiling? I’ll take natural over processed every time. Mercury poisoning is far down my list of health concerns.

No kidding. I left a loaf of Dempsters bread on the counter for over 2 weeks without spoiling. Not sure what they use but I know home baked bread spoils in a few days

[trigger7mm]

You can put a open package of lunch meat in the fridge for a month and it still hasn’t spoiled. The occasional feed of fish doesn’t worry me. Although, a funny story, I was talking to an old timer once about mercury in fish. He said he’d been eating fish for his whole life. That’s when I noticed he had a lump on the side of his neck the size of a golf ball…🤔🤔

[Marty S]

I drank the water from Coral Creek a few years back, it feeds Abraham Lake. Am I gonna die from it?

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by Jim Blake

Abraham Lake is about as good as it gets. It is primarily supplied by Glacial melt. The colour of the water certainly gives this away. I've eaten lots of fish from there and they are superb!! Good luck!

It might be a bit silty for a while on the West end after all this rain.

Just saying...Interestingly, glacial melt is quite polluted with the PCB's, DDTs, and other airborne contaminants that were used in the last century. Airborne contaminants flow over the glaciers and cool and drop out of the atmosphere. Bow lake is one of the most polluted lakes in the front ranges. The North Saskatchewan river gets it''s water from the same area so it would have potential for contaminants aside from mercury.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11795215/

I'd eat a good meal or two of fish from most places in Alberta. No worse than any processed fast foods in the long run.

[OL_JR]

Interesting, not a lake I've ever had any hesitation of eating a fish from and my family and I have had our fair share. Judging by the taste I just can't imagine them being bad for you . Eat a keeper from Cold lake and the average smaller laker from Abraham and you will think they are different species. Rainbows are about the best fish I've had anywhere, nothing like a pothole trout.

[Mr Flyguy]

Originally Posted by OL_JR

Interesting, not a lake I've ever had any hesitation of eating a fish from and my family and I have had our fair share. Judging by the taste I just can't imagine them being bad for you . Eat a keeper from Cold lake and the average smaller laker from Abraham and you will think they are different species. Rainbows are about the best fish I've had anywhere, nothing like a pothole trout.

Huh? Try eating a trout from any of the potholes west of Edmonton, deep fried mud tastes better!

[lannie]

He is saying the rainbows from Abraham are about the best fish he has had. They are nothing like a very bad tasting pothole trout.

[Coiloil37]

I wouldn’t put rainbow or any trout within my top 50 favourite eating fish. I also wouldn’t worry about eating fish that far up the watershed.
Personally the only fish I worry about eating are the big swordfish and any large for species, apex predator that can carry ciguatera, neither of which your going to find in Alberta.

[Mr Flyguy]

Originally Posted by lannie

He is saying the rainbows from Abraham are about the best fish he has had. They are nothing like a very bad tasting pothole trout.

No, his comment was ambiguous at best.

[OL_JR]

Originally Posted by Mr Flyguy

No, his comment was ambiguous at best.

My apologies, I guess I should have been more specific.
Especially on a thread concerning a specific lake for that matter.