Water: Fish Advisories
National Listing of Fish Advisories: General Fact Sheet 2010
Note: This fact sheet has been revised due to changes in the data previously reported for Michigan and Oregon.
Fact Sheet; November 2011Since 1993, the EPA has made the National Listing of Fish Advisories (NLFA) available to let people know about locally-issued fish advisories and safe eating guidelines. States, territories, and tribes (called "states") provide this information to the EPA every year.
Until 2004, we published a summary of the most current information in the NLFA every year. In 2005, the EPA decided to do this every two years because changes from year to year had been very small. This summary describes the 2010 data.
In addition to providing a central point where people can find data about fish advisories, the EPA produces materials to help people understand the risks of eating contaminated fish and the benefits of eating fish as part of a healthy diet. You can download or order these materials from our website.
- Basic Information about Fish Advisories in the United States
- National Listing of Fish Advisories Website
- 2010 National Listing
- Safe Eating Guidelines
- Bioaccumulative Contaminants
- National Advice Concerning Mercury in Fish
- For More Information
Basic Information about Fish Advisories in the United States
States issue fish consumption advisories to protect people from the risks of eating contaminated fish caught in local waters. A consumption advisory may recommend limiting the amount or avoiding eating certain fish from specific waters or from specific water types (like "all lakes"). States may issue an advisory for everyone or for groups like pregnant women, nursing mothers, and children. In recent years, states have been using statewide advisories to warn about risks from widespread contamination. In our summaries, they count as one advisory. In contrast, states also issue safe eating guidelines to let people know that fish from specific waterbodies are safe to eat.
Differences in the way states monitor, make decisions, and communicate to citizens make it hard to do comparisons or establish national trends. The EPA can summarize the information.
National Listing of Fish Advisories Website
The National Listing of Fish Advisories website offers details on the advisories issued. For each advisory, you will find specific information about the species, location, contaminants, and consumption recommendations. When you visit the web site, you can get detailed local information and maps. You can also find out how to reach your state's contact.
2010 National Listing
Each statewide advisory counts as one advisory in our totals, so looking at the number of advisories may be a little misleading. That's why we also use total lake acres and total river miles subject to advisories to get a sense of their extent across the country.
For 2010, the NLFA showed that states issued 349 new fish advisories. The 2010 total of 4,598 advisories covers 42% of the Nation's total lake acreage and 36% of the nation's total river miles. To get more details on the waters under advisory refer to the technical fact sheet.
Safe Eating Guidelines
Safe eating guidelines let people know when there are no limits on eating fish from specific waters or certain fish species. While there were only 20 safe eating guidelines in effect in 1993, that number rose to 874 in 2008 and 908 in 2010. In 2010, 21 states had safe eating guidelines in effect. Two percent of river miles and 9% of lake acres in United States had safe eating guidelines for at least one fish species. In 2010, the overall geographic area covered by safe eating guidelines decreased because two states replaced their safe eating guidelines with advisories limiting consumption.
Bioaccumulative Contaminants
Ninety –eight percent of all advisories in effect in 2010 involved five bioaccumulative chemical contaminants: mercury, PCBs, chlordane, dioxins, and DDT. These contaminants accumulate in fish tissue at concentrations many times higher than concentrations in the water and can persist for years in sediments, where bottom-dwelling creatures eat them and pass them to larger fish.
The total number of advisories for mercury increased from 3,361 in 2008 to 3,710 in 2010. Most states have issued mercury advisories, and 81% of all advisories were based at least partly on mercury. As of 2010, 25 states have statewide advisories for mercury in freshwater lakes and/or rivers. Sixteen states have statewide advisories for mercury in their coastal waters, and one state has a statewide advisory for mercury in marine fish.
Between 2008 and 2010, advisories for PCBs increased from 1,025 to 1,084. Four states have statewide freshwater advisories for PCBs, and nine states have PCB advisories for their coastal waters.
Chlordane use was banned in the United States in 1988, and this contaminant continues to degrade in the environment. Fish advisories for chlordane declined from 67 in 2008 to 60 in 2010.
Dioxin advisories increase from 123 in 2008 to 128 in 2010. The geographic area covered by dioxin advisories is extremely small, in part because of the high cost of analysis and the location of facilities that release dioxin.
Although the use of DDT has been banned since 1975, the number of DDT advisories declined from 76 in 2008 to 58 in 2010. The size of waters under advisory has also decreased.
National Advice Concerning Mercury in Fish
In 2004, the EPA and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued advice for women who might become pregnant, women who are pregnant, nursing mothers, and young children. You can learn more about this advisory here.
For More Information
For more information on specific advisories within a state, contact the appropriate state agency. For more information on how to reduce exposure, consult the EPA's brochure What You Need to Know About Mercury in Fish and Shellfish, available in several languages. You can also send an e-mail to Samantha Fontenelle (fontenelle.samantha@epa.gov) to learn more about the National Listing of Fish Advisories.