Toxins in your Tackle Box

The "Let's Get The Lead Out" Program, is an initiative designed to reduce toxic lead fishing tackle from accumulating in the environment where it is responsible for the deaths of millions of birds and other wildlife annually.  Loons, eagles, swans and waterfowl are especially vulnerable.  Lead is very harmful to all living things, including people and it threatens our water quality. 

Lead (Pb) is a neuro-toxin which attacks the nervous system  and can lead to blindness, decreased reproductivity, seizures and death. Lead is fatal to loons and other aquatic birds.

This Loon presentation by Margie Manthey is a very informative video. Margie is a naturalist, a writer, and also the fishing coordinator for the Wolfe Lake Association in Frontenac - she is one of the founders of the Let's Get The Lead Out campaign in Ontario.  The Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation evolved from research initiated in 1998 by the Biodiversity Research Institute. Their goal was to assess the impact of environmental mercury pollution on aquatic ecosystems throughout North America using the Common Loon as an indicator species. Today they are at the forefront of Loon Conservation in North America.