Fish Consumption Guidelines
The Health Benefits of Eating Fish
Sport fish caught in Georgia are generally good quality and safe to eat. Fish provide a high protein, low fat diet which is low in saturated fats. Fish may have substantial health benefits when they replace a high fat source of protein in the diet.
What are the Guidelines?
Georgia DNR samples fish from water bodies each year to test for contaminants such as PCBs, chlordane, and mercury. Many of the fish tested have few or no contaminants and are safe to eat. Waters where fish have been tested and found to be clean are listed to the right. Fish from waters listed in the tables had some level of contaminants so you should restrict the amount of fish you eat from these waters. Recommendations are made to limit how often you eat a meal of fish from these sources to either once per week or month. A meal of fish is about 4 to 8 ounces. These guidelines are based on eating fish from a listed area for at least 30 years. That is because it would take months or years of regularly eating contaminated food to accumulate levels in your body that would affect your health.
“One meal per week” means that eating a 4- to 8-ounce serving no more than once per week should cause no significant health risks.
Special Notice for Pregnant Women, Nursing Mothers and Children
If you are pregnant or a nursing mother, or plan to become pregnant soon, you and also children under 6 years of age are sensitive to the effects of some contaminants. Women and children in these categories may wish to eat fish less often than recommended in the tables.
How to Reduce Your Health Risk
Eat smaller fish and vary the kind of fish you eat. Contaminants build up in top predators (bass), bottom feeders (catfish), and older (larger) fish to a greater extent than panfish, such as bream and crappie.
Clean and cook fish properly. Some chemicals have a tendency to concentrate in the fatty tissues of fish. By removing the fish's skin and trimming the fat, you can substantially reduce contaminants.
Cook fish so fat drips away. Broil, bake, or grill fish and do not use the drippings. Deep-fat frying removes some contaminants, but discard the oil once you have cooked the fish. Pan frying removes few contaminants.
Guidelines for Georgia
Please note: Lakes and rivers in the Fish Consumption Guidelines have been tested and the fish found to contain little or no contamination. If the lake or stream where you fish is listed, it is safe to eat the amount listed for a given species from that body of water. Water bodies are listed alphabetically.
“These guidelines are non-binding recommendations EPD determines based on the body of water a fish comes from, the species of fish and the amount of fish a person consumes. The purpose of these guidelines is to provide detailed information in an understandable format for people who eat fish. Waters listed in the fish consumption guidelines are not necessarily assessed as impaired using USEPA guidelines for Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act.”
More details and most recent results from fish contaminant testing are available in the publication “Guidelines for Eating Fish from Georgia Waters” available at: www.gaepd.org
Call for a copy or more information:
Environmental Protection Division: 404-656-4713 | Coastal Resources Division: 912-264-7218 | Wildlife Resources Division: 706-557-3305
Protected Species May Be Encountered While Fishing
It is unlawful to capture, kill, or harm any protected species. If you accidentally capture a protected species while fishing or collecting bait, please release it unharmed immediately.
There are 58 fishes, 10 salamanders, one frog, one snail, 27 mussels, 20 crayfish and 14 turtles under protection in Georgia.
Exception: all native crayfish, including state protected species, can be used as bait as long as they are not harvested from burrows. Bait species should never be transferred between water ways.
For more information contact DNR’s Wildlife Conservation Section at (706) 557-3213.
Search the rare species data portal at GeorgiaBiodiversity.org for a list of protected species in your watershed.
Redhorse Sucker
There are several protected species of redhorse suckers that can easily be confused with common carp while bow fishing. For more information on sport fish and carp identification, please visit GeorgiaWildlife.com/fishing/identification.
Map Turtle
Aquatic turtle with prominent spiny keel on midline of shell. Found in large streams and rivers in northwest and southwest portions of the state.
Alligator Snapping Turtle
Huge aquatic turtle that may weigh more than 100 lbs. Occurs in large streams, rivers, reservoirs in the southwest corner of the state. Jaws are powerful—keep a safe distance!
Eastern Hellbender
Large, harmless salamander found in clear, rocky mountain streams such as trout streams.
Altamaha Shiner
A state protected minnow that is common in rocky sections of large rivers and streams in the Oconee and Ocmulgee river systems.
