The State of Tennessee advised residents Monday to be cautious if they like eating walleye from Center Hill Lake.
TDEC’s April Grippo said the announcement is a precautionary advisory related to eating walleye 19 inches or larger. Grippo said TDEC and TWRA combined to analyze the fish and found mercury levels to be elevated.
“We have a trigger point, it’s zero point three milligrams per kilogram of fish, and these were just a little bit over than that,” Grippo said. “The larger fish were averaging zero point three nine milligrams per kilogram. And so we just want to make sure that the public knows about that amount so that they can decide whether or not they’re comfortable consuming that.”
Grippo said the precautionary advisory is specific to women who are pregnant, nursing mothers and children. Grippo said the advisory suggests these populations not eat walleye that are over 19 inches in length until the advisory is lifted. Grippo said all others are advised to limit their consumption to one meal per month.
Grippo said TDEC can only speculate as to the source of the mercury.
“Unfortunately, we do not have a discrete source of mercury that’s identified for Center Hill Reservoir,” Grippo said. “We anticipate that the source of the mercury is there from atmospheric deposition as we are starting to see more mercury in fish tissues that we collect across the state.”
Grippo said the TDEC will work with TWRA to post warning signs.
“A lot of times we will try to post those at known fishing holes or boat ramps or things like that,” Grippo said. ” So that we can make sure that, especially if you have visitors coming in from outside of the area, that may not hear your program, that they’re able to see those signs and know about limiting their meals. And again, it’s just specific to this one type of fish, just walleye, that are 19 inches or larger.”
Grippo said tissue testing will continue until the advisory can be lifted. Grippo said it is not unusual for the advisory to last multiple years.
