That figure was included in one of three recently released reports for the Fox River/Green Bay Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) being jointly conducted by federal agencies, the Oneida Tribe of Indians and the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. The latest findings outlined within the three reports (Recreational Fishing Damages From Fish Consumption Advisories In The Waters of Green Bay, Fish Injury, and Water and Sediment Injury) will be discussed at a public meeting, in the Brown County Public Library, at 7 p.m. tonight.
Following intensive studies, rigorous methodologies and very conservative assumptions, which include factoring in an aggressive cleanup proposed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the Service has calculated over $100 million in public damages due to the impacts of lost fishing opportunities from fish consumption advisories alone, Ecological Services Assistant Regional Director Charlie Wooley said. However, a less-complete cleanup would increase damages further. Additional economic studies which look at injuries beyond fish consumption advisories are nearing completion as well.
The public meeting will also cover determinations of injuries to fish, and damage to water and sediments as part of the Fox River/Green Bay NRDA. These determinations show the widespread and long-lasting effects of PCBs on the publics natural resources.
Historically, every species of sport fish in the Lower Fox River and all of Green Bay have had fish consumption advisories for decades. Additionally, studies show that Green Bay walleye have very high levels of PCBs and liver tumors, and all of the waters of the Lower Fox River and Green Bay exceed federal and state water quality criteria for the protection of aquatic life and wildlife.
The Service also conducted an extensive study of lake trout reproduction showing that there is still no recorded survival after hatching anywhere in Green Bay or Lake Michigan. PCBs, long thought to be the primary factor for continuing lake trout reproductive failure, appear less important than egg thiamine deficiency. Egg thiamine deficiency is believed to be associated with alewife in the diet since the introduction of alewife to the Great Lakes. Thus the Service and its co-trustees have determined that Green Bay lake trout are not injured under the definitions of NRDA regulations.
The Service and its co-trustees plan to release additional economic studies in the coming months, in association with next years release of the Wisconsin DNRs Superfund studies conducted for the Environmental Protection Agency. The co-trustees plan to release determinations of actual restoration projects needed to restore the Fox River and Green Bay, as well as determinations to compensate the public for losses.
The Brown County Library is located at 515 Pine Street, downtown Green Bay. Parking is available at the library, located on the northwest corner of Monroe and Pine Streets. For more information, call David Allen, (920) 465-7407 or Larry Dean (612) 713-5312.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish and wildlife and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System comprising more than 500 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands, and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries 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. For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our home page at: http://www.fws.gov/r3pao/
