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The 2005 - 2006 Guide to Eating Ontario Sport Fish

The 2005-2006 Guide to Eating Ontario Sport Fish is substantially different from previous editions. It now contains important information on consumption of sport fish from Ontario waters for both the general population and the sensitive population of women of child-bearing age and children under 15.

We recommend that you discard previous editions of the Guide and either download the 2005-2006 Guide or request a paper copy by contacting the Sport Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program.

The Guide to Eating Ontario Sport Fish is published every other year by the Ministry of the Environment in co-operation with the Ministry of Natural Resources. Staff at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ministry of the Environment collect fish and send them to the Ministry of the Environment laboratory in Toronto. The fish are analyzed for a variety of substances, including mercury, PCBs, mirex, DDT and dioxins. The results are used to develop the tables in the Guide, which give size-specific consumption advice for each species tested from each location. This advice is based on health protection guidelines developed by Health Canada.

The Sport Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program is the largest testing and advisory program of its kind in North America. Fish have been tested from approximately 1,700 locations in Ontario’s inland lakes and rivers and Great Lakes. Between 4,000 and 6,000 fish per year are tested through the program, which has been testing Ontario sport fish for more than 25 years.

For further information on the program or results in the Guide, contact:

Sport Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program
Ministry of the Environment
Environmental Monitoring and Reporting Branch
125 Resources Road
Etobicoke, ON M9P 3V6
Telephone: (416) 327-6816
Hotline: 1-800-820-2716
e-mail: sportfish@ene.gov.on.ca

Women of child-bearing age and children under 15 are more sensitive to the effects of contaminants found in some sport fish. The Ontario Ministry of the Environment issues more stringent advice for women of child-bearing age and children under 15 in the Guide to Eating Ontario Sport Fish. More information is available in:

5005b Contaminants in Sport Fish Important information for women of child-bearing age and parents of children under 15

The Guide

To download the Guide, choose the section that has the specific information you seek. It is imperative that you also download the Introductory Section. It explains how to use the Guide and how to interpret the information. The files are in PDF format and can be viewed with Adobe Acrobat.

• Cover
• Introductory section & Important Addresses
• Fish Identification & The Lake Simcoe Story
• Fish Names
• Location Index
• Southern Ontario inland lakes
  • Southern Ontario lakes from A-I
  • Southern Ontario lakes from J - T
  • Southern Ontario lakes from U - Z
• Northern Ontario inland lakes
  • Update for Nepahwin Lake (Sudbury District)
  • Northern Ontario lakes from A - H
  • Northern Ontario lakes from I - P
  • Northern Ontario lakes from Q - Z
• Lake Ontario
• St. Lawrence River
• Lake Erie
• Lake Huron
• Lake Superior

Languages

For individuals whose first language is not English or French, a brochure describing how to use the Guide is available in 19 languages. The brochures are available in the following languages, and can be downloaded using Adobe Acrobat:

If you are having difficulty accessing a document, please contact the Ministry of the Environment at picemail@ene.gov.on.ca or phone the ministry's Public Information Centre at 1- 800-565-4923, in Toronto 416-325-4000 or by mail to the Ministry of the Environment, Public Information Centre, 135 St. Clair Ave. West, 1st Floor, Toronto, ON. M4V 1P5.

To view/print PDF documents, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader. Adobe Acrobat Reader is free and can be downloaded from the Adobe web site. Download Adobe Acrobat Reader.

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