Hinze Dam Mercury Levels.

[rayken1938]

Heard an article on radio last month on high levels of mercury detected in bass in hinze dam.
Has anyone heard any more on this subject?
I am a little concerned as I fish there about once a month and sometimes take a fish home to eat.
Ray

[munchi]

:) :o ray only one bass has had a extensive amount of mercury in it i fish at least once a week aand take home some fish to eat do not glow in the dark yet munchi 8-) :-X

[rayken1938]

Ta for that. The report I heard was rather vague and did not specify what the levels were and the
ABC could not help as I couldnt give time of report and station and they are also disorganised due to problems at Toowong. I may try to contact the rangers office for more info.
Ray

[Feral]

Steve had a bit about it in one of his recent Bush and Beach articles, cant remember how long ago though!

[NormC]

As I recall, the advice is not to eat fish from the dam more than twice a week and if a pregnant woman, not more than once every two weeks. Not sure if I got it exactly right, but something like that.

Once I heard this, I stopped worrying. I fish Hinze a bit, but only bring fish home once a fortnight or so at most, so no worries.

Also, I think they only tested 4 or 5 fish, and only a couple were above the mercury 'limit'. Not all fish are affected. It is more likely to be the bigger, older ones that have been eating the smaller ones for longer and aquiring their mercury levels on consumption.

In short, unless you are pregnant; get on with fishing and eating.

[yellahunter]

what are they like to eat?

i fish hinze quite a lot but only c&r as i just prefer fresh ocean fish,

anyone got anything to say about the hinze dam on the chew

[Feral]

Like most freshwater fish - quiet edible if you know how to fillet them, (still not a patch on salt) if you dont, taste like the inside of a greek wrestlers jock strap.

[NormC]

Fillet and skin them. Roll in seasoned flour. Coat with beaten egg. Cook in a little Olive Oil in fry pan. Taste great.

I normally bring home one from each trip to the dam. A fillet each for wife and me. The rest I release.

Wild caught bass are always released.

[d-man]

taste like the inside of a greek wrestlers jock strap.

I'll take your word for that! ;)

[d-man]

I'm on the stocking committee at Hinze and did a bit of delving into the story which ran in the news in early November. Here's the story as related by GCCC Catchment Management.

Qld Health thought they found some mercury in some water samples from Hinze Dam, it turned out that the samples were contaminated in the Qld Health laboratory (seems standard practice for Qld Health - maybe Dr Patel ran the tests). In the meantime, they arranged to have six bass sampled. If you are going to sample for this sort of thing I'd suggest that 600 would have been more appropriate considering the number of bass in there but apparently Qld Health are working on a tight budget and removing that many fish from the dam may have dropped the water level. But I digress, pardon my cynicism.
Anyway, the six bass were tested for heavy metals (and no, they did not find Metallica or MegaDeath!) and two of the six fish were positive. Only one was above the threshold level of acceptability for human consumption. Both positive fish were over 40 cm suggesting that they were quite old.

In defence of Qld Health, they didn't say that people shouldn't eat fish from Hinze, only that they should not eat too many and pregnant women should limit thier intake even further. Being that there's a 2 fish bag limit, that should have been a given anyway. They also suggested that other impoundments should be checked. Don't know if that's happening yet.

The media, as they like to do, picked up the story, embellished it to the point of sensationalism, and ran with it. One southern newspaper even said that all fish in the dam had high levels of mercury and people were warned not to fish or eat fish from the dam. Who knows what story the London Age ran???? It has transpired that the mercury almsot certainly came from sediments which are no longer flushed away in flood events because there's a big rock and concrete wall stopping it. Ya fiddle with the natural cycle and ya pay the price!

[Leigh77]

And that big rock/concrete wall is only going to get bigger over the next couple of years...aint that going to change the surroundings.

[d-man]

And that big rock/concrete wall is only going to get bigger over the next couple of years...aint that going to change the surroundings.

Yep, its certainly going to change the access points somewhat - while the new wall is being built the only access point (boat ramp) will be via the ramp up at the top end near Pine Creek off the Murwillumbah Road. There will be no access tot he ramps at the wall which will both be consumed by the new construction (another ramp and parking area will eventually be put in somewhere near Cedar Lake Resort) and the ramp at the Upper Intake Tower will not be accessible during the construction.

[rayken1938]

Thanks Dman,
At last something authorative. It is very apparent that Qld Health need to do more testing.
The possible presence of any heavy metal in the food chain is a matter of concern and should be thoroughly investigated. If its in the fish it means that minute levels are possibly in the drinking water.
I am old enough that I will kark it before any cumilative effect can cause me any health problems but what about our youngsters?
I will drop a line to my local MP and post his response.
Ray

[rick_k]

might be an old gold mine somewhere in the catchment?