The Green Bay National Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation Office (NFWCO) collected 50 lake trout for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Great Lakes Fish Monitoring Program. 

The monitoring entails two sites in Lake Michigan that are sampled during alternate years to quantify concentrations of metals and organic chemicals, including mercury, DDT, and PCB’s, in top predators (i.e. lake trout). 

This year’s fish were sampled near Sturgeon Bay in western Lake Michigan during the Service’s lake trout spawn surveys and is yet another example of the importance the Green Bay NFWCO places on developing partnerships for the benefit of our natural resources. 

The contaminant monitoring is used to evaluate progress by states and provinces in meeting the rehabilitation goals laid out in the international Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) which was established to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem. 

Generally, contaminant levels in Lake Michigan, and other Great Lakes, have been declining since the 1970’s though levels for many contaminants still exceed the GLWQA thresholds (see Figure 1).  More information on current contaminant levels and the Great Lakes Fish Monitoring Program can be found on the EPA website at: www.epa.gov/glnpo/monitor.html. 

The cooperative efforts among the EPA, Fish and Wildlife Service and other state agencies are imperative in preventing new contaminants from going undetected in the Great Lakes Basin.  The "early warnings" provided by monitoring will hopefully enable conservation measures to be enacted before high contaminant levels pose a serious threat to fish, wildlife, and humans.