Tackling Toxic Tackle
When ingested, lead fishing tackle kills loons. Yet people disagree on how and when to get the lead out.
By John Myers
Open most tackle boxes in Minnesota and you're likely to find lead sinkers and jigs - basic gear anglers use to catch everything from crappies and walleyes to trout and bass. Open up some dead loons found on Minnesota lakes and you might find some of the same stuff lead fishing tackle.
Evidence has mounted over the past decade that loons are dying from lead poisoning caused when they swallow small lead sinkers and jigs. Of dead adult loons recovered and studied in Michigan and several eastern states, about 25 percent on average had died from lead poisoning from tackle. In some heavily fished lakes in eastern states, up to 85 percent of the dead loons examined had died from lead poisoning after ingesting lead sinkers or jigs.
There hasn't been a comprehensive study of loon mortality on Minnesota lakes, but a 1995 report by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency showed that 7 of 95 loons brought to research centers for autopsies had died from lead poisoning.
The information on loon deaths has spurred the Department of Natural Resources and state Office of Environmental Assistance to try to educate anglers about nontoxic alternatives. Three states have already banned the sale of lead sinkers. And in January, Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon and Rep. Bill Hilty introduced legislation to ban the use and sale of lead jigs and sinkers weighing 1 ounce or less in Minnesota.
Minnesota's fishing tackle manufacturing industry led the efforts last winter to stop the lead ban, at least for this year, saying not enough information is available on loon mortality in the state. Some angler groups said the legislation was too broad, possibly banning unintended tackle. And some opponents to a lead ban say there simply aren't enough lead substitutes available in enough places yet. Moreover, some nonlead alternatives cost substantially more than lead tackle.
Supporters of a lead ban say there's clearly enough information to act now, and that price and availability issues can be overcome. As recommended by Sen. Solon, tackle industry representatives, angler groups, the Minnesota chapter of the Audubon Society, and other organizations are meeting as a "stakeholders group'' and holding discussions that could result in an agreement to get lead out of small tackle in Minnesota.
LOON + LEAD = DEAD
There's no question lead is toxic. The federal government has banned lead shot shells for hunting on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands and nationwide for waterfowl hunting, and has banned lead in gasoline and paint because of its effects on animal and human health. Lead at toxic levels harms nervous systems, causing paralysis and eventually death. A 1/16-ounce lead sinker or jig can kill a loon within a few weeks.
There's also no question that U.S. anglers buy and use millions of pounds of lead fishing tackle every year. Most of the 2.1 million people who fish in Minnesota use lead jigs and sinkers. No one knows how much of their tackle ends up in lakes. But everyone has had snags that break off and tackle that vanishes in waterways.
Minnesota is the summer home of about 12,000 loons, the most of any state except Alaska. And although loon numbers appear to be holding their own (and while habitat loss, mercury, and water quality may impact overall loon numbers) there is a growing movement to remove lead as a potential problem.
In some areas of eastern states, biologists feel lead poisoning is holding loon numbers down. In Minnesota, there's not enough research to say whether loon numbers would be higher if lead poisoning ceased. But the death of any loons, when preventable by switching fishing tackle, is enough to spur some people to act.
"I don't think anyone knows the impact lead tackle is having on overall loon populations. There is an impact in some areas, but we don't know in others," said Mark Pokras, director of the Wildlife Clinic at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine. "We do know that many loons are dying from ingesting lead tackle. We know that lead poisoning is a very unpleasant way to die. And we know that there are alternatives out there that can make this problem go away. We just need to use a different material in our fishing tackle."
In the past decade, Pokras has studied nearly 700 loon carcasses, including 300 breeding-age adults from lakes in eastern states. Of the adults, 48 percent had died from ingesting lead fishing tackle. A wildlife disease survey of 178 loons by Michigan DNR wildlife biologist Tom Cooley found about 25 percent had died from lead poisoning caused by fishing tackle.
"We see it much higher on some of our eastern lakes that are fished hard year-round, up to 85 percent. But, across the loon's range, that 25 percent figure keeps showing up. There's no reason to think it's any different in Minnesota," Pokras said.
Skeptics, including the American Sportfishing Association industry group, have called Pokras' work "bad science."
"We aren't fighting the effort to offer alternatives to lead. But we also don't buy into Pokras' work," said Geoff Ratté, sales manager for Water Gremlin, a White Bear Lake-based sinker manufacturer. "Lead is killing some individual loons. But there's no science out there that says lead fishing tackle is affecting overall loon numbers."
Said ASA vice president Gordon Robertson, "We strongly encourage anglers to use lead fishing sinkers carefully, and support monitoring of areas where waterbirds concentrate to assess any significant impacts. But we are concerned about statewide restrictions on the sale and use of lead sinkers when research doesn't warrant such broad measures."
The association points to a 1999 study by the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis., that found only 3.5 percent of 313 loons surveyed had ingested lead tackle.
Biologist Chris Franson, who headed that study, said comparison of his study to others that found higher ingestion rates is not appropriate because of the different geographic areas involved and because he looked at both dead birds and at blood samples and X-rays from live birds trapped for other studies. Where lead sinker ingestion occurs, it is more likely that sinkers would be found in dead birds than in live, apparently healthy birds.
"The bottom line is that we found lead sinkers in four different species of water birds and in 3.5 percent of loons. That's lower than some other [study] rates, but it's not insignificant," Franson said. "What we found certainly doesn't refute anyone else's findings."
SWITCH AND BAIT
One way loons appear to be ingesting lead tackle is by eating fish that have swallowed lead tackle from an angler's line. Another is by eating minnows still attached to broken-off lead tackle. Pokras said two-thirds of all dead loons X-rayed had some sort of fishing tackle in their stomachs. "We've seen loons with 6-inch Rapalas in them. They are picking up a lot of tackle," he said.
Loons also appear to be picking up jigs and sinkers off lake bottoms by apparently mistaking them for pebbles, which they use to digest their food. Canadian researchers found that loons seem to prefer pebbles similar in size and shape to small sinkers and jigs. Pokras says nearly all of the lead sinkers and jigs found in loons have been under 1 ounce; most are a half ounce or smaller.
Two years ago the issue hit home for Pam Perry, the DNR nongame wildlife specialist in Brainerd and the state's Loon Watch program coordinator. Perry had received a sick loon rescued from a partially frozen lake. An X-ray revealed a lead jig in its stomach. The loon had high levels of lead in its blood and showed classic signs of lead poisoning, such as weakness that made it unable to fly or even keep its head up. Although a veterinarian removed the jig, the loon died.
"I knew about the issue of lead sinkers and jigs before that. But that one loon, that's what really made me think this is probably a problem out there," Perry said.
In the fifth year of a lead-free tackle campaign, in what is their biggest effort yet, the DNR, OEA, and conservation groups are encouraging anglers to replace lead sinkers and jigs with unleaded alternatives. One of the biggest goals is to let anglers know that alternatives are available, if they know where to look.
Using federal money aimed at nongame species, the Let's Get the Lead Out! campaign will give away 15,000 free samples of unleaded jigs and 400 pounds of sinkers - made from tin, tungsten, bismuth, iron, and other nontoxic materials - at fishing tournaments, sporting goods stores, sports shows, and popular fishing lakes on holiday weekends.
Perry noted that more manufacturers, especially smaller companies, are making more varieties of nonlead sinkers and jigs each year. According to OEA waste-reduction team leader Kevin McDonald, Wal-Mart, Cabela's, Target, and other large retailers are starting to offer a few nonlead alternatives. But most new varieties aren't making it to store shelves, especially in smaller bait shops. Many anglers are unaware so many alternatives exist.
"It's frustrating when anglers tell us that they would make the switch to nonlead alternatives, but that they can't find them at their sporting goods stores or bait shops," Perry said. "At the same time, the store owners tell us that anglers won't buy the alternatives."
Let's Get the Lead Out! organizers are also trying to convince Minnesota tackle manufacturers to switch from lead to nontoxic alternatives. That switch has been slow, even with no-interest loans available.
"I haven't yet seen the kind of response I'd hoped we'd get from what is a pretty big industry in our state," McDonald said. "We want our industry to be on the cutting edge, not to fall behind their competition in other states."
One of those out-of-state competitors is Mitch Lushenko, owner of Warrior Sporting Goods in Sherwood, Ore. While early models of unleaded sinkers and jigs were bulky and strange-looking, Warrior's new Du ck Crossing tin jigs come in the same sizes, colors, and shapes as popular lead models used here in Minnesota. To get the same weight and sink rate, anglers must choose a jig one size larger. The 1??8-ounce tin model, for example, is about the size of a 1/4-ounce lead model.
"We essentially use the same molds that other manufacturers use for lead. We can make just about any shape you could want," Lushenko said. "A lot of people are catching walleyes on these jigs already." But not in Minnesota, where it's difficult to find Duck Crossing products. A few stores, such as Wilderness Outfitters in Ely, have special-ordered Duck Crossing tin jigs. Lushenko is waiting to get picked up by a major sporting goods distributor.
"They keep telling us we're a year or two ahead of our time. But I can hang in there until we get legislation in more states, or nationally," he said. "Then we'll be there with the right product."
Mike Maternowsky, a fishing guide and manager at Wilderness Outfitters, said the Duck Crossing jigs are just as good as any lead models. "They're really no different at all, just a little bit bigger. You can hardly tell. The only issue they had at first was they didn't have all the neon colors fishermen want. But they are getting better now,'' he said. "I used them the same as a leadhead jig. I put a 3-inch twister tail on them and caught lots of fish.''
Maternowsky is one of a few tackle-store managers who added nonlead jigs because his clients asked for them. Still, the jigs aren't flying off the shelves.
"There's an issue with price, especially for people who don't understand about the lead problem," said Maternowsky. Wilderness Outfitters sells four unpainted lead jigs for $1 and four of the Duck Crossing jigs for $2.66. "But the price will come down when the big companies get into it. We just need that mandate to come from the state, then it will happen.''
TO BAN OR NOT TO BAN
If Minnesota takes formal action against lead tackle, it won't be alone. While a federal Environmental Protection Agency effort to ban lead sinkers fizzled in the mid-1990s, New York lawmakers last year banned the sale of small lead sinkers. Stores there have until 2004 to clear their lead inventory, and anglers can keep using what's in their tackle boxes.
New Hampshire banned the use of lead sinkers that weigh one ounce or less and lead jigs less than 1 inch long. Maine banned the sale of lead sinkers that weigh a half ounce or less, but allows possession of lead sinkers. Lead sinkers also are banned in Yellowstone National Park and 13 wildlife refuges under the control of the USFWS. Canada banned the use of small lead fishing sinkers and jigs in national parks and national wildlife areas. Great Britain banned the use of all lead sinkers in 1987.
In 1993 Water Gremlin was the first major U.S. tackle maker to offer a selection of unleaded tin sinkers with its Gremlin Green line. This year the company will update the nontoxic line with bismuth sinkers that are nearly as heavy as lead sinkers of the same size. But Gremlin Green accounts for less than 5 percent of the company's sales, and Ratt?? said anglers aren't making the switch because of cost. Lead costs Water Gremlin 30 cents per pound. Tin is about $3 per pound. Translated in the store: Lead split-shot sinkers are about 99 cents per 20 sinkers. Tin sinkers are $1.99 for 16.
"If anglers choose to try alternative products, we think that's great," Ratt?? said. "But we think it's wrong to force them to use a more expensive product, and one that probably won't fish as well as lead, if there isn't a real problem with loon populations."
Loon researcher Pokras disagrees, arguing that most anglers won't mind spending a couple of dollars more each year on basic fishing tackle if they know it might save a loon. Compared with what anglers spend on tackle, boats, bait, and travel, the cost of nonlead sinkers and jigs shouldn't be too noticeable.
"Enough people have done enough research and come up with basically the same conclusion: that lead tackle is killing loons," Pokras said. "The issue now is public relations and politics. It's a marketing issue now, to get the word out and find some solutions."
The fate of the legislation dealing with lead poisoning in loons wasn't clear at press time. The bill no longer contained a ban on lead sinkers and jigs. Instead it called for the DNR and other state agencies to coordinate incentives to use nonlead tackle, for state agencies to give grants to programs to reduce use of lead tackle, and for the DNR to continue giving away nontoxic tackle, including samples handed out by conservation officers as they explain the issue to the public. "This is a good first step," said Lee Pfannmuller, director of DNR Ecological Resources. "We do not support a ban at this time. We hope that in five to 10 years, there will be more alternatives available."
John Myers is an avid fisherman. He lives in Duluth, where he is a reporter with the Duluth News Tribune.
