Recreational anglers residing in the commonwealth of Massachusetts take heed – times they are a’changing.
Lead sinkers and jigs weighing less than 1 ounce are now illegal in the Bay State’s freshwater lakes, ponds, rivers and streams.
This legislation, which went into effect in January, is the conclusion of a decade-long effort, which the state embarked in 2001, when the Fisheries and Wildlife board prohibited the use of lead sinkers in the Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs.
Those two locations are the primary habitat of one of the state’s most prized natural treasures: the common loon.
This beautiful bird, once thought to be extinct in the region, is listed today as a species of special concern on the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act. Only 32 known nesting pairs remain in the state, spread out over fourteen different bodies of water statewide.
Most notable among those habitats are the two reservoirs in the central part of the state, which are home to 16 and four nesting pairs respectively, according to the Department of Fish and Game.
Researchers at Tufts University’s School of Veterinary Medicine found that, of the 483 dead birds examined in a recent study, the ingestion of lead fishing gear accounted for around 44 percent of the bird deaths.
Of those 200-plus lead-ingestion deaths, 79 percent were from lead poisoning from lead sinkers, a number that is far too high for state wildlife officials.
The birds generally come into contact with the lead through two primary vectors, when they eat a baitfish which is on a line, and when they swallow pebbles in the water and unknowingly ingest the lead.
Eight years after the Fisheries and Wildlife board banned the use of lead in the two reservoirs, the state unanimously voted in 2009 to keep all lead sinkers weighing less than an ounce out of all of Massachusetts’ freshwater bodies.
“Most anglers who have experienced the presence of loons would agree that sightings of these magnificent birds and the enjoyment of their iconic, eerie calls adds to the quality of any fishing experience,” Mark Tisa, the state’s assistant director of fisheries, said in a statement made in January, “Through this new conservation regulation it is possible to reduce the chance of lead poisoning of loons, a goal all sportsmen should support.”
