Getting The LEAD Out - Lead fishing tackle kills loons; with no national policy to fight the problem, conservationists are convincing anglers to switch to nontoxic alternatives

National Wildlife, August-Sept, 2001 by Steve Nadis

For that reason, biologist David Evers at the BioDiversity Research Institute in Falmouth, Maine, considers mercury an even more serious threat to loons than lead over the long run. Evers has documented several of this neurotoxin's pernicious effects, including the way it disrupts a bird's nesting behavior and ability to care for its young- factors that may ultimately lead to an overall population decline.

Because the metal is so ubiquitous in the environment, protecting loons from mercury poisoning will be extremely difficult, requiring strict regulations at all of the pollutant's multiple sources. But that's not the case with lead. Simply switching from toxic to nontoxic fishing tackle can offer a straightforward solution to the problem. "It's black and white," says Pokras. "One hundred percent of the animals that ingest lead fishing gear die of lead poisoning, while those lucky enough to avoid this stuff do not." Adds Miconi: "We've taken lead out of gasoline and paint, so why can't we keep it out of our waterways?"

It turns out that we can-both easily and inexpensively. Today more than a dozen U.S. manufacturers produce lead-free sinkers and jigs that are available in fishing tackle stores and retail outlets nationwide. The trick is to make sure that any non-lead alternative is also nontoxic. "One zinc sinker on the market is as toxic as lead," says Pokras, who would also like to see safety tests conducted on brass and tin sinkers before they become widely available. But a variety of other materials- including iron, steel, bismuth, rock and ceramic-are already considered safe, he adds.

That's why conservationists are frustrated that there still is no nationwide ban on the use of lead fishing gear, even though Great Britain successfully instituted such a ban more than a decade ago. In this country, a few states have decided to act on their own: Last year, New Hampshire prohibited the use of lead sinkers weighing less than an ounce and of jigs less than an inch in length (sizes small enough to be ingested by a loon). A bill recently passed in Maine will make it illegal, as of 2002, to sell lead sinkers lighter than a half-ounce. And in Massachusetts, lead fishing tackle is not allowed on a handful of lakes in the northern part of the state where loons are known to breed and nest.

But even in these states federal legislation is still urgently needed, says Pokras. "We currently have different regulations on the books for New Hampshire and Maine, yet they are adjacent states. Anglers fishing on border lakes have to obey different laws. We need uniformity to make the transition from lead to nontoxic tackle practical for fishermen, the fishing industry and the stores that sell this stuff."

According to National Wildlife Federation biologist Margaret Fowle, there may not be enough political momentum today to achieve such a nationwide ban. (Previous federal restrictions on lead tackle, proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, were defeated in 1994.) That's why NWF's Vermont field office, where Fowle works, is spearheading a voluntary effort. The hope, she says, is to increase both awareness of the danger to loons and familiarity with the use of nontoxic sinkers.