According to Service biologists, common loons die of lead poisoning after swallowing lost fishing sinkers and jigs. Common loons pick up lost sinkers and jigs along with small stones and grit that they swallow in order to aid digestion. Even a single sinker may be enough to cause death by lead poisoning, and birds that survive the initial dose can have difficulty flying, feeding and mating.
More than half of the Nations 500-plus refuges are open to anglers, and the Service estimates that there were more than five million fishing visits to national wildlife refuges in 1997. The National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act, passed in 1997, designated angling as a priority use of the system, and authorized new money to improve angler access to the water, and open more refuges for recreational fishing.
Lead-free fishing areas will be phased in during a two-year period starting this Fall. During this period, Kenai Refuge staff will alert anglers to the impending lead-free fishing areas, and will educate anglers about the benefits of non-toxic sinkers and jigs for wildlife. Beginning in 2001, the use of lead sinkers and jigs in lead-free fishing areas on the Kenai Refuge will be prohibited.
Substitutes for lead sinkers are increasingly available, such as split shot made of tin, and sinkers made of stainless steel, bismuth, tungsten plastic, recycled glass and ceramics.
A notice of intent to file a proposed change in refuge-specific regulations was published in the Federal Register on April 13, 1999. This month the Service published a proposed rule identifying refuges and those specific waters on which the lead tackle ban will apply.
The Kenai National Wildlife Refuges lead-free fishing areas include the Kenai River for the first three miles below Skilak Lake, and the waters of the Dave Spencer Wilderness Area.
The Kenai River below Skilak Lake lead-free zone corresponds to the current seasonal closure to motorized use, for the protection of staging trumpeter swans. This portion of the River seasonally supports both nesting and staging common loons, as well as between 15-50 trumpeter swans. It is a popular sport-fishing destination for sockeye salmon, rainbow trout and Dolly Varden.
The Dave Spencer Wilderness Area waters, which includes the Swan Lake and Swanson River Canoe systems, support a large population of common loons. Nesting pairs are distributed throughout the area on suitable lakes, and hundreds of failed and non-breeders utilize the larger lakes throughout the ice-free season. Fishing pressure is highly variable across the waters of the Dave Spencer Wilderness Area.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System comprised of more than 500 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands, and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fish and wildlife management assistance offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state wildlife agencies.
FWS
For further information contact: Connie M.J. Barclay at (907) 786-3695
