OK- Believe it or not, the Canadians are not requiring that you fish with non-toxic weights or lead-free tackle. I can hear you sputtering all the way to here on Jasper Lake! What? The environmentally conscious Canadians, supporters of the Kyoto Accord, defenders of all that is good and clean, embracers of feel-good legislation steeped in bureaucracy and slammers of Americans, do not require non-toxic wieghts for fishing? They claim that there is no scientific basis for doing so? Hmmm - in Minnesota, our state is requesting that we (tackle retailers, bait shops, resorts, etc.) encourage the use of non-toxic weights in our own beautiful waters. So, needless to say I was intrigued by this difference in scientific perspectives and I called up a biologist working for the Ministry of Natural Resources for Ontario, Canada. I asked Brian Jackson, what gives with Canada's lack of non-toxic weight requirement that seems like it would go hand-in-hand with the barbless hooks, and non-organic baits.
The obvious part is that lead is toxic to people and animals. Bad for people and apparently worse for loons. I thought the loon-death-thing from lead weights was a bit "hyped" possibly given the way I've heard countless environmental wacko's in Minnesota (and the US and Europe) hype everything up with our agenda-pushing media hackng the trail to the land of "America is Bad". Heck, those wackos appear to feel that people are just plain toxic in the US and apparently, we would better serve the cuddly animals if we all just left the planet. You know, a sort of "Save a tree - shoot your neighbor" mentality. With all of the concerned declaring the sky to be falling, I was a skeptic going into the loon-lead-thing. Even skeptics can learn something as did I.
Loons who eat even one #4 lead split shot end up grinding the sinker up into a fine powder in their gullets. That's how birds eat. They swallow food and consume small pebbles to grind up the food for digestion. When they pick up a lead shot, it actually gets ground up into a fine powder and then enters the loon's bloodstream and effectively ends the loon's existance. Well, I did not know that; particularly the part about super-fine grinding of lead. THAT's how it gets into the bird and brings on its demise fairly quickly.
But, being a true scientist and not your usual pseudo-scientist (Al Gore comes to mind) spouting partial facts that sound scary while leaving out all the details, Brian told me that loons die. Dying loons is important to the ecosystem. They have to die otherwise the loons would rule the world. (Not his exact wording, mind you.) However, 90% of all the loons that die in Quetico Park, die from lead poisoning. That's right, lead poisoning! That was a stunning detail! If this were the Minneapolis Star Tribune or the New York Times or Al Gore, this story would have ended with that one fact being loudly broadcasted. Then the article would have continued on with something about mankind destroying the world and the need for more moronic, feel-good laws. Then, some executive director would start an organization to save the loon while bashing America and the ignorant-but-conerned would donate their money and that's how the executive director can afford his BMW.
But, Brian Jacksonis a true scientist and I'm not a journalistic hack - I'm not even a journalist-I hate the lying manipulators. The truth of the matter is that about 20 loons total die each year in the Quetico Park. Based on that fact, 20 loons, given the hundreds or more present, living and calling so beautifully in Quetico Park seems pretty rinky-dink. This "rinky-dink" point is what the fishing industry pounded on for Quetico Park while opposing lead-weight legislation. Based on this very small number in loon mortality, they won the fight. You can't blame them too much because if you give the legislation and inch, especially in the land of Feeling'good, they'll try to take a mile whether it's necessary or not. So, now as a result, Canada doesn't officially feel there's a scientific basis for going non-toxic with fishing weights.
Brian made the point that one would think that it would be of concern when even one loon dies from lead poisoning. Heck, in Minnesota, lead shot for hunting ducks has been banned for decades and this has been promoted by hunting groups interested in protecting the resource. In Minnesota, we have a pretty good understanding of what happens to ducks who pick up lead for the same digestive reasons as loons. However, the state is not banning lead for fishing but instead encouraging change through education.
So, in this better-for-the-world case, the score is Minnesota 1, Canada 0. Boy, I bet THAT is going to tick off all the goody-two-shoes north of the border now! Minnesotans care more for the loons than the Canadian government. ...and then the loons fly to Florida in the winter where they get eaten by gators and the swamp-thing.
So, if you are from Minnesota (or other areas where you do care) and you are concerned about continued loon safety and doing the right thing, consider taking lead-free tackle to Quetico Park for your fishing trip. We've hunted down a lot of options and you can buy them all online. Sure, they are different shapes then what you might be used to, BUT, they all do the same doggone thing. They sink like a rock made out of tungsten, or bismuth, or tin (light stuff), or ceramic, or pewter. Go ahead loon - swallow one of these babies and see what happens. Disclaimer: QueticoFishing.com does neither condones nor encourages the accidental choking (or constipation) of loons consuming large amounts of non-toxic sinkers. They are on their own.
To find out specifics, please CLICK HERE to get to our main online catalog page where all these non-toxic sinkers are.
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