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Fishing on the Cannon River
May.7 2008 at 08:23 by Griff Wigley
I counted three dozen people fishing from the west side of Riverwalk on Sunday. (Click photo to enlarge.)
Is the fishing getting better on the Cannon? What’s being caught besides bullheads are carp? Are the fish safe to eat?
(FYI, the NDDC hosted a forum on the Cannon River yesterday morning. Ross blogged it at Experts Discuss Dam Possibilities but I didn’t attend so I could ask my fishing questions.)
Skip Zimmerman May 7, 2008 11:58 am
According to the DNR/Department of Health sites below, there is some concern around Mercury contamination for men, women not planning to be pregnant, and the general population over 15 years old who are eating white suckers, redhorse suckers and walleye under 20 inches, caught in the Cannon River between Faribault and Northfield. Everything else seems to be okay.
For pregnant women, women who may become pregnant, and children under 15, the risks are greater, and carp also join the list of concern. The contamination levels do not appear to be high on the DNR/Department of Healths scale, but extant and perhaps moderate nonetheless.
There does not appear to be any concern around PCB contamination, which is the other chemical for which the DNR/Department of Health tests. I can’t speak to what else is in the river or its fish, but would counsel caution. Runoff from the multiple non-organic farms along the Cannon’s banks and those of its tributaries scares me enough to consider only a catch-and-release approach to local fishing. And…if it’s not clean enough to support a healthy trout population (nope, not the Cannon!), then I’m probably not even likely to fish it anyway.
You can see the DNR/Department of Health reports on the Cannon and other rivers at the following links:
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/fish/eating/riverspecpop.pdf
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/fish/eating/rivergenpop.pdf
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