Guidelines for preparing and eating Ohio fish

SANDUSKY — Eating fish pulled from the waters of Lake Erie can provide a meal that's tasty as well as healthy. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources provides these guidelines on safely eating fresh-caught fish in Ohio: • To protect against mercury contamination, eat no more than one meal a week of fish caught from Ohio waters. This advice applies to everyone, but particularly to women of child-bearing age and to children who are 15 and younger. • Certain bodies of water in Ohio are listed as "do not eat" locations because of contamination from PCBs, so don't eat fish from those locations. Fortunately, no location is close to Sandusky. The "do not eat" fish advisories apply to all species taken from Dicks Creek and the Little Scioto River. Don't eat channel catfish or common carp from the Greater Miami River, or channel catfish 18 inches or longer from the Ohio River, or common carp from the Tuscarawas River. Preparing your meal When you are preparing your meal of Ohio fish, trim off the skin or fat before cooking to reduce contaminants. Here are specific suggestions: • Remove all skin from the fillets, so that the fat may drain away while cooking. • Trim off the fatty areas around the belly, back and sides of the fish. • Bake, broil or grill the fish so that the fat and any contaminants the fat contains can drip away. Pan-frying is not recommended. • If you poach or deep fry your fish, discard the poaching liquid or cooking oil. • Using the fish for a soup or chowder could retain the fat and the contaminants in the fat. Consider baking, broiling, grilling or poaching your fish first, then adding your fish to the chowder. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has a fish recipes page if you need ideas on how to cook your catch.