Lead ban coming

[numbskull]

So Bottomgum, your first link describes pretty well that elemental lead (the stuff used in sinkers and jigs) does not dissolve in water. The biologically available leads that create the issues that concern you are man produced and used chemically. Certainly they are an issue, and a reason gasoline is no longer leaded, but hardly a subject for fishing regulations. Probably high concentrations of elemental lead would be bad for marine organisms, but given lead's low solubility in water and the volume of water in the ocean, it is hard to see this being an issue.

The situation is likely analogous to Mercury (Hg). Hg in elemental (ie metal) form is not very toxic stuff. Inhalation of vapor can be bad at high concentration, but absorbtion through the gut or skin is poor. You can drink it and it all comes out the other end. For decades bags of it were used to pass feeding tubes along the gut in ill patients. It is the organic mercury compounds (primarily pesticides) that are highly poisonous neurotoxins and what people get when they eat too much tuna.

Lead is actually more poisonous than Hg in an elemental form (it is absorbed well from the Gi tract and interferes with blood cell maturation (ie causes anemia). That is the reason it is a problem for birds that ingest lead shot and split shot material thinking it is food. As far as I am aware, there is no evidence birds are eating 3 oz sinkers in saltwater.

I am not a toxicologist or a chemist, and I am not pretending to be any kind of expert on this, but I think a VERY large paintbrush gets used to illustrate these environmental issues, and often the public ends up mislead. If lead sinkers are truly a significant harm to the environment, most of us would look to change our behavior. But before doing so we deserve accurate information on just how much harm they are. So far I have seen none other than the bird ingestion issue.

[Bottomgun]

Originally Posted by numbskull

I think a VERY large paintbrush gets used to illustrate these environmental issues

numbskull, since this is a “Striper” forum, and not an every-fish board, I should not have unnecessarily stirred the pot, because this lead weight thing is probably aimed more at the split-shot and twist-weight users in brackish and fresh waters, like the lead shot hunters were targeted, and not so much at saltwater sport fishermen.

I did that in jumping in on the lead issue that I am not an expert on either. Sorry about that. I usually deal with toxic soup scenarios like sediments near outfalls from sewage treatment plants and pharmaceutical plants. So I get to see the effects from combinations of dioxins, pesticides/herbicides, methyl-mercury, lead, poly aromatic hydrocarbons, etc. And the effects are tumors, parasites, lesions, blemishes, and other fish diseases. Messy looking stuff, but it is still hard to single out a single substance, like lead, because the different toxins work together to make a mess of our fish populations. I was just suggesting that since it is a given that lead in our aquatic environment is toxic, depending on ambient conditions, that it may be one of the reasons regulators want to pull the plug on banning lead fishing weights. If they don’t pull the plug, then that’s good for you guys. If they do make a change, I’m sure it will be explained more thoroughly than my apparently lame attempt.

I almost wish I didn’t get into this fisheries protection business. I can’t enjoy fishing like I did when I was a kid. Most everything is gone. 90% of the big spawners across species have been fished out this past 50 years, and it doesn’t look good down the road. Politicians have traded favors, bribes, whatever, to weaken or eliminate sound regulations, so now we don’t have much left out there.

Although I still go to the Race, like many guys in the profession, I stopped fishing for stripers about 1980, because anything I caught could be one less spawner in a fish population in trouble and going downhill, so I would get a guilty conscious about it. Fishing catch and release felt good for awhile, until we found out about half of what is released died anyway.

Sorry about making waves on your board guys. My bad.

[Slipknot]

Originally Posted by Bottomgun

Fishing catch and release felt good for awhile, until we found out about half of what is released died anyway.

I thank you for fishing catch and release
BUT
I have a real hard time believing about 50% die anyway.
that may be true if bait was used and they were guthooked but the bass I release , I am pretty sure more than 95% live fine since I take the time to carefully release them and I don't fish bait. once in a while a gill may be damaged is about all.