Fish Lead Free
Background
Lead is a toxic substance. It has been included in Schedule 1 (List of Toxic Substances) of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act since 1986. Lead is toxic not only to wildlife but to people as well.
In 2003, Environment Canada's Canadian Wildlife Service released Occasional Paper 108 entitled Lead fishing sinkers and jigs in Canada: Review of their use patterns and toxic impacts on wildlife. Occasional Paper 108 reviews the issue of lead sinker toxicity for loons and other wildlife. A single lead sinker or jig contains enough lead to kill a Common Loon or other waterbird. It is estimated that 20–30% of loon mortalities in eastern Canada are due to lead poisoning from the ingestion of lead-containing sinkers or jigs that are used in angling.
Restrictions on the use of lead sinkers were implemented in 1997 in National Wildlife Areas and National Parks under the authority of the Canada Wildlife Act and the Canada National Parks Act respectively. Environment Canada, along with stakeholders from the angling industry, is currently seeking a Canada-wide option to minimize the risk to waterbirds caused by the use of toxic sinkers and jigs.
Non-toxic alternatives
Increasingly, mainstream retailers are making non-toxic alternatives to lead fishing sinkers and jigs available to anglers. These alternatives are now available in many stores and on the Internet.
Additional information
In response to the kind of information contained in Occasional Paper 108, several states in the northeastern United States have adopted strategies to reduce the use of lead-containing fishing weights in their jurisdictions:
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