Abstract |
The federal Clean Water Act (CWA) and Maryland regulations require the State to maintain water quality that supports fish and aquatic life, and fishing as a recreational activity. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) interprets the fishable use under section 101(a) of the Clean Water Act to include, at a minimum, the protection of aquatic communities and human health related to the consumption of fish and shellfish. In other words, fishable means that not only can fish and shellfish survive in a waterbody, but when harvested, can also be safely eaten by humans and terrestrial wildlife (OWOW Memorandum no. WQSP-00-03, October 2000). Based on mercury data in fish tissue from a subset of lakes across the State, the Maryland Department of Environment (MDE) announced a statewide fish consumption advisory for lakes this year. This advisory has been established statewide as a precautionary measure because the primary source of mercury is understood to be atmospheric deposition, which is widely dispersed. Based on additional fish tissue data, Maryland has verified that St. Marys Lake is impaired due to mercury in fish tissue. |