SAULT STE. MARIE - Fish was on the menu at the Feb. 2 program presented by Three Lakes Group, the local chapter of the Sierra Club, held at Crawford Hall at Lake Superior State University. Jennifer Dale, public information education officer for Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority, gave an overview of the project that CORA is working on in conjunction with Michigan Inter-tribal Agency and Inter-tribal Fisheries and Assessment Program, entitled "Eat More Fish - But Choose Wisely."
Dale has been working part-time for CORA for many years, but signed on full-time a year ago. Her first project was to discover what vulnerable populations should be advised on eating fish and how to advise them, concentrating her efforts on the Native American population, particularly women and children.
Some health concerns Dale discovered on Native American reservations are that diet-related health problems are rising. Native Americans are twice as likely to develop diabetes and Type 2 diabetes in children is increasing. Heart disease is the number one killer in the Native population and the obesity rate is high in the Upper Peninsula area.
Eating fish with lower contaminant levels could help alleviate these problems, Dale said. The Omega-3 fatty acids in fish are known to reduce heart disease and stroke and are essential in the development of the brain and eyes of a fetus. It is also a healthy protein alternative to the high-fat diets of most Americans.
Great Lakes whitefish has a very good content of Omega-3, said Dale. With 3.4 grams per 100 grams, it is even higher than Alaskan salmon at 2.7 grams per 100 grams. The question is, she asked, are they low enough in contaminants to still be healthy to eat?
The Ojibwe Health Study gathered samples of tissue and hair from Native Americans around the Great Lakes. After 10 years, the results showed that PCB and mercury levels were only slightly elevated in Native American people, well below unsafe levels, said Dale.
In the three decades of PCB sampling in the Great Lakes, Dale said that PCB levels have been steadily decreasing in lake trout and that whitefish are well below the FDA trigger level of 2.
"We can't seem to get rid of PCBs entirely, but they are now very low," said Dale. She pointed out that one of the major sources of PCB contamination comes from people burning trash.
Mercury is still a big problem, she added, and encouraged people to continue to fight against the use of coal-fired energy plants. Their emissions of methyl mercury fall into the water and settle into the bottom sediment. There, a chemical change creates dimethyl mercury, which is absorbed by bottom feeders and works its way up the food chain to humans.
Mercury is absorbed throughout the lean muscle tissue of fish, and cannot be cut off, unlike PCB, which concentrates in fatty tissue and can be removed. Consumers need to choose fish low in mercury, explained Dale. Alaskan wild-caught salmon is said to be the best for eating, as it is high in Omega-3 and low in mercury contamination; Dale pointed out that Lake Superior whitefish is actually higher in Omega-3 and carries the same low amount of mercury levels as the Alaskan wild-caught salmon.
The three objectives of Dale's grant were to conduct focus groups to determine how to advise people about eating fish; to determine contaminant loads by testing fish in Upper Peninsula waters; and to create educational materials based on the data collected. All of these goals took place concurrently and a brochure is in the works.
"Eating fish is more than healthy," said Dale. "It's essential for getting Omega-3 into your diet."
The brochure will offer guidelines to help consumers choose wisely. Know the source, the species and the size, said Dale. Take fish from the least contaminated waters, and eat smaller, none-predator fish. The following steps will reduce 60 to 80 percent of contaminants, she added: fillet the fish, remove the skin and fat, and either grill or bake it.
A long-term contaminant study will soon be on CORA's website: www.1836cora.org.
Three Lakes Group will host their next free program at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 2 at Lake Superior State University in Crawford Hall, Room 305. The topic is the Sault Ste. Marie Watershed Project, presented by Pat Carr, project director.
