Fishing advisory bill stalls two years in a row

by Sydney Cromwell

Alabama has more than 200 fishing advisories on its rivers and lakes, warning would-be anglers that some or all of the fish they catch might not be safe to eat.

“That’s on every major water body in Alabama,” said Abby Brown, the director of community engagement at Coosa Riverkeeper.

The Safe & Healthy Outdoor Recreation (SHOR) Act, intended to make fish consumption advisories more accessible for the public, was introduced in the state Legislature in 2023 and 2024, but it has now stalled for the second time.

Proponents of the SHOR Act say it would fill gaps in the current system and make it easier for people to fish safely. The Alabama Department of Environmental Management, on the other hand, calls the bill unnecessary and impossible to enforce.

RISKY FISHING

There are thousands of fishers on Alabama’s waters, whether for subsistence, sport or leisure, who bring their catches home to eat. Not enough of them know when those meals could be harming their health, Brown said.

“Despite maybe common belief, people still are eating fish from our rivers. People are relying on our rivers to put food on their table,” she said. “… If you’re relying on this river for food, it’s important that you have the right information to protect your family.”

ADEM and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) catch and test hundreds of fish each year, rotating annually through five river basins in the state, according to Russell Kelly, the chief of ADEM’s Permits and Services Division. 

The tests look for unsafe levels of chemicals like mercury, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and PFOS (perfluoroalkyl sulfonate). These are linked to a variety of health issues, such as heart disease, cancer, birth and childhood developmental problems.

“These are all known carcinogens, known neurotoxins,” Brown said.

PFOS are part of a larger group of “forever” chemicals that are a source of growing health concerns. Read more from Southern Science on recent PFAS testing in the Coosa River and in waters across Alabama.

Through the data and tissue samples that ADEM collects, the Department of Public Health (ADPH) decides on how to issue its annual advisories. Advisories for an individual species or fishing area can range from “No restriction” (meaning safe to eat in any quantity) to only eating a limited number of meals per month, all the way to “Do not eat any” (meaning no amount of consumption is safe).

These chemicals, such as the PCBs near Anniston and the high levels of PFAS in the Tennessee River basin, often enter waterways near sites of heavy industry, farms, landfills or other pollution sources. They tend to “bioaccumulate” as they move up the food chain of a river or lake, as small creatures store these chemicals in their bodies through their food, then are eaten by larger fish, which again ingest more of a substance like mercury than their bodies can eliminate.

Older and bigger fish tend to have the highest amounts of these chemicals, sometimes even hundreds of times greater concentrations than the water they’re swimming in, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health.

Humans bioaccumulate chemicals from their diets, too. Eating a fish contaminated with mercury or PCBs once or even a few times may not produce noticeable effects, but over time the health impacts can appear.

That’s why many of the state’s fish advisories recommend limited portions of a certain fish per month, while other advisories recommend not eating anything you catch at a particular location.

WARNING SIGNS

The state posts fishing advisory signs at public boat ramps and private marinas, when the owners agree to it, Kelly said.

“We have been putting those anywhere and everywhere we could since 2018,” he said. “… All someone has to do is ask. We’ll give them a sign.”

You might have seen one of those signs near a boat ramp or fishing pier, with directions to a website or phone hotline for more information. Kelly said an important part of the sign is the QR code, which links not only to fish advisories but also to beach monitoring and water quality data that the state collects.

ADEM also created a map, divided by river basin, that helps would-be fishers identify which sites are under an advisory, Kelly said. The testing data and language of the advisories can be very technical, he said, and the map is an easier way for people to understand the information.

“We thought that was helpful to the public, who might have difficulty reading the black and white fish consumption advisory,” he said.

ADEM also mails out index cards with the QR code and fishing advisory information to the state’s tag offices every five years, Kelly said, and asks the offices to hand out cards to people renewing their boat tags.

Organizations like Coosa Riverkeeper also put out advisory signage of their own. Brown said they try to use their signage to address language barriers or other things that might keep people from understanding the advisories.

Brown said the existing state advisory signs could be improved by creating more multilingual signs or including pictures of species that are considered unsafe to eat. These changes would help people who may not speak English, can’t understand the advisories’ scientific language or simply know a species by another name, she said.

Last year, Coosa Riverkeeper got English/Spanish signs posted at Choccolocco Creek, which has a history of high levels of contamination. Three of the four testing sites on Choccolocco Creek are under a complete “do not eat” advisory, meaning no amount of fish consumption is safe, while the fourth site limits consumption of spotted bass to twice a month.

“Pictures of fish are really important to us to be on the signs,” Brown said.

Relying on web links or QR codes to provide advisories also assumes that people have a phone with a working internet connection while fishing, which isn’t always the case, Brown said.

Coosa Riverkeeper Justinn Overton said posting signs with QR codes may be easier, but it’s not sufficient.

“We need non-digital options,” Overton said. 

THE PROPOSED BILL

The fish consumption advisory program is well-established, Kelly said, and the department recognizes its value to fishers.

“I think it’s a pretty good program. We’re going to try to enhance it,” Kelly said.

However, it isn’t required by state law. That’s what water quality advocates hoped the SHOR Act could change.

“Right now, they’re just doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, which we love, but if the wrong person leaves or changes their minds, … then this goes away,” Brown said.

The SHOR Act would make the advisory program into a state law and require the installation of signs at every ramp or pier on a waterway that has a consumption advisory.

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“More people would know about fish consumption advisories in their communities if ADEM had been doing their job.”

Justinn Overton, Coosa Riverkeeper

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Additionally, the SHOR Act would establish a “blue-ribbon panel” to review testing practices and public feedback to make sure they’re providing the information people need. That would be the opportunity to consider changes like testing different species or adding pictures and other languages to the signs, Brown said.

Under the SHOR Act, fish consumption advisory resources would also be included with fishing licenses.

The SHOR Act was sponsored by Rep. Craig Lipscomb (R-District 30) in the House and Sen. David Sessions (R-District 35) in the Senate. It was pre-filed in December and had a first reading on Feb. 6, the first day of the 2024 legislative session, but there hasn’t been any action on the bill since.

Southern Science reached out to both Rep. Lipscomb and Sen. Sessions for a comment on the bill, but either responded.

DEAD IN THE WATER

This is not the first time the SHOR Act has been on Alabama’s legislative agenda.

In the 2023 session, the SHOR Act died in the Legislature, though it wasn’t due to opposition from state representatives, Brown said. It was simply a lack of sufficient time left in the legislative session, she said.

This time around, Coosa Riverkeeper and other supporters of the SHOR Act got an earlier start with their pre-filing and initially expected smooth sailing, based on last year’s lack of opposition.

However, a month after the 2024 session began, there’s been no action on the SHOR Act. Overton said the bill has faced unexpected pushback from ADEM and business and forestry groups, and she’s not sure what the outcome will be.

Kelly described the bill as “dead.”

He said that ADEM initially had no opposition to the SHOR Act, although he doesn’t see the need for a law to codify what the state is already doing.

“This legislation, from our perspective, doesn’t ask us to do any more than we’re already doing. In fact, it asks us to do less,” Kelly said.

However, he said he’s opposed to any bill that requires ADEM to change its sign design, which he said would set back the progress the program has made. 

“We’re not in favor of changing our program that we’ve had implemented now for six years,” Kelly said.

While he doesn’t argue with the criticisms that groups like Coosa Riverkeeper have against the QR code’s limitations, Kelly said making it a legal requirement to include pictures or specific details on every sign would be logistically difficult.

“These are not bad ideas but some of these things are — I just don’t see a way we could be in compliance with [them],” he said.

Each site would require its own customized sign with the relevant fish advisories, which could change every time new sampling is done. Since the advisories are quite localized, Kelly said, it also would require a lot more signs to be posted.

“That sign would only be good for right there. It wouldn’t have any impact for two miles upstream or downstream,” he said. “… It becomes a nightmare to try to comply with.”

The 2024 SHOR Act only specifies that ADEM “shall post signage at any public boat ramp adjacent to state waters with an active fish consumption advisory providing notice of all active fish consumption advisories in that body of water. The signage shall include a telephone number for the department and an Internet address and quick responses code for a website” that provides the advisory details. 

It doesn’t mention any other requirements for the signs.

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“These are not bad ideas but some of these things are — I just don’t see a way we could be in compliance with [them].”

Russell Kelly, Alabama Department of Environmental Management

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Kelly said ADEM sees the advisory signs as a pathway for people to find the information they need, rather than a complete information source in themselves. He said groups like the riverkeepers “just want more, they don’t quite understand the program.”

Overton also says that she wants more — because she doesn’t think ADEM has done enough.

“More people would know about fish consumption advisories in their communities if ADEM had been doing their job,” she said.

One piece of the SHOR Act that’s definitely dead is a requirement from the 2023 bill to post signs at sites where companies discharge pollution into state waterways. That requirement did meet opposition from the legislature and industry interests in the state, so the organizations advocating for the SHOR Act decided to focus on fishers in 2024 and leave pollution notifications for future legislative efforts.

Kelly noted that there are more than 30,000 industrial discharge sites across the state, and posting signs would create some of the same problems as the fishing advisory signs: the information is hard to understand, and creating individual signs for each site would be challenging — and possibly have too much detail to fit onto the sign.

“Do you really want to have 30,000 signs up and down your waterways?” he said.

He also said that the signs might create unneeded public worry if they’re posted at sites where companies are within state limits on what they can safely discharge.

WHAT’S NEXT

With the fate of the SHOR Act in limbo, Overton said she and other supporters will continue pushing for the bill to become a law.

Kelly said the ADCNR is likely to add the advisory resources to state fishing licenses even if the SHOR Act isn’t passed. He also said that ADEM will continue to work on ways to improve its advisory signage program.

“We’re trying to get the signs out and the message out, and we’re not through with this, by the way,” Kelly said.

PROTECT YOURSELF
To access all 216 current fish advisories, pollution monitoring and other water quality information, visit the ADPH website and interactive map or call 1-800-338-8374.
If you’re wondering about a particular species that isn’t listed in the advisories, ADPH recommends looking for fish with similar feeding habits, as their accumulation of pollutants is likely to be similar.
Other ways to reduce your health risk from contaminated fish include:
• Eat smaller portions of fish (advisories are based on 8 oz. portions).
• Eat different types of fish rather than a single species.
• Space out meals caught from waterways that are under advisory.
• Properly clean and cook fish (remove fat and cook in a way that allows fatty juices to drain away).
• Children under 14 and adults who are nursing or pregnant are considered to be at higher risk from these chemicals and should take extra precautions.
According to the ADPH, catch-and-release fishing and other water activities are generally considered safe in sites with fish consumption advisories.

Main article image of anglers on Walker County Public Fishing Lake by Billy Pope, courtesy of Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.