Valuable Advice: Fish From These MA Lakes Are Off-Limits

This advice is for my fellow Massachusetts friends and neighbors who enjoy the sport of fishing. If you're into it just for fun and you throw back anything you catch, that's fine. However, if you like to feed your family with what you catch, please keep reading.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is constantly sampling the water and fish throughout the Commonwealth for high levels of mercury and forever chemicals (PFAS).

After all that hard work and research, the DPH then lets the public know what is safe and what is not-so-much via "fish consumption advisories". These advisories let you know what fish are safe to eat based on what bodies of water they were caught in.

The DPH just released the latest fish consumption advisory and it has a lot to say regarding certain bodies of water in the Beautiful Berkshires and the fish that call those bodies of water "home".

Even those with no fishing experience should know that you should NOT eat fish caught from bodies of water contaminated with PCBs such as Goodrich Pond, Morewood Lake, and Silver Lake in Pittsfield, the Hoosic River in North Adams and Williamstown, and the Housatonic River that runs across Berkshire County.

Berkshire County has other fishing spots where mercury (and PFAS) levels are high, but that's okay. Fish with high levels of mercury can still be consumed in some cases, you just need to limit your diet of them.

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According to the latest fish consumption advisory from the DPH, here are some Berkshire County locations that are listed (not including the PCB spots) and what fish shouldn't be eaten (if any).

Ashley Lake in Washington - Sensitive Population (Children/Pregnant Women): Do not eat the Yellow Perch. General Population: Limit Yellow Perch to 2 meals a month.
Ashmere Lake in Hinsdale and Peru - Sensitive: Do not eat Chain Pickerel and Largemouth Bass. General: Limit Chain Pickerel and Largemouth Bass to 2 meals a month.
Big Pond in Otis - Sensitive: Do not eat ANY fish. General: Do not eat Largemouth Bass and limit other species to 2 meals a month
Buckley Dunton Lake in Becket - Sensitive: Do not eat ANY fish. General: Do not eat Largemouth Bass
Lake Garfield in Monterey - Sensitive: Do not eat Largemouth Bass. General: Limit Largemouth Bass to 2 meals a month.
Konkapot River in Sheffield and New Marlborough - Sensitive: Do not eat ANY fish. General: Limit all fish to 2 meals a month
Otis Reservoir in Otis - Sensitive: Do not eat ANY fish. General: Limit all fish to 2 meals a month.
Plunkett Reservoir in Hinsdale - Sensitive: Do not eat Largemouth Bass. General: Limit Largemouth Bass to 2 meals a month.
Pontoosuc Lake in Pittsfield and Lanesborough - Sensitive: Do not eat Largemouth Bass and limit other species to 2 meals a month. General: Limit Largemouth Bass to 2 meals a month and limit other species to 1 meal a week.
Stockbridge Bowl in Stockbridge - Sensitive: Do not eat Largemouth Bass. General: Limit Largemouth Bass to 2 meals a month.
Upper Spectacle Pond in Otis and Sandisfield - Sensitive: Do not eat ANY fish. General: Limit all fish to 1 meal a week.
West Lake in Sandisfield - Sensitive: Do not eat ANY fish. General: Limit all fish to 2 meals a week.
Windsor Lake in Windsor - Sensitive: Do not eat Largemouth Bass. General: Do not eat Largemouth Bass.

Better to be informed before you cast that line into the water, right? Now go relax and enjoy some fishing! For the full list of fish consumption advisories for the entire state, visit Mass.gov's website here.

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