The 2008 Michigan Family Fish Consumption Guide provides advice on selecting fish safe to eat from Michigan rivers, inland lakes, and the surrounding Great Lakes. The guide has length and species-specific advice for individual Michigan waters. The advice is based on test results conducted on the fillet (edible portion) of the fish.

Young children, especially an unborn fetus, are at greatest risk if exposed too much of the chemicals that buildup in fish. Women of childbearing age and young children who regularly eat sport-caught fish from Michigan waters are strongly encouraged to follow this guide's advice. The guide also provides advice on eating safe fish for adult men and women beyond childbearing.

Updated public health advisories on popular waters to fish in eastern Michigan are in the guide, including the 2008 public health advisory for the Saginaw Bay, Saginaw River, and Tittabawassee River. The advisories for these waters are:

- No one should eat carp, catfish, or white bass;

- Women of childbearing age and children under 15 years should not eat any smallmouth bass or walleye longer than 18 inches. Women and children are advised to eat only one meal per week of yellow perch from Saginaw Bay or one meal per month of yellow perch from the Tittabawassee or Saginaw Rivers; or they can eat one meal per month of any other fish species not mentioned previously; and

- Women beyond childbearing years and men 15 years and older may eat as much as they want of walleye shorter than 18 inches from any of these waters and yellow perch of any size from Saginaw Bay. These adults are advised to eat only one meal per week of smallmouth bass of any size, walleye longer than 18 inches, yellow perch of any size from the Tittabawassee or Saginaw Rivers, or any other fish species not mentioned previously.

Over the next year, MDCH will be working with local partners to provide improved outreach to people eating fish from the Tittabawassee River, Saginaw River and Saginaw Bay with special attention to at-risk populations.

For additional information regarding Michigan's Fish Consumption Advisory, please call the Michigan Department of Community Health toll free at 1-800-648-6942 or go to www.michigan.gov/mdch-toxics.