LANSING — The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has released the 2025 Eat Safe Fish Guides, which indicate how many servings of fish are safe and healthy to eat based on the species of fish, its size and which body of water the fish has been caught from.

Guidelines are based on levels of chemicals found in filets, such as mercury and perfluorooctane sulfonate, and use test results from the MDHHS Bureau of Laboratories to determine how much of each type of fish is safe to eat over the long term.

The guidelines are broken down by county, then further broken down by body of water. The section for Marquette County includes guidelines for many popular fishing spots, including Dead River, the Greenwood Resevoir and the Chocolay River.

“There are many health benefits to eating fish and the Eat Safe Fish Guides provide consumption recommendations based on the levels of certain chemicals found in fish in waterbodies across the state,” said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive at MDDHHS. “Michigan families can use these guidelines to help make healthy choices about the fish they eat.”

A recent scientific review of PFOS, which is known as a forever-chemical due to its ability to accumulate in body tissue, has found that PFOS is a greater threat to human health than previously thought. This new finding has resulted in changes to the 2025 Eat Safe Fish Guides, including an increase in the number of Do Not Eat guidelines.

For example, Brook Trout caught in the Chocolay River are now classified as a Do Not Eat species due to concentrations of PFOS chemicals found in their filets, as are all species of fish out of Little Trout Lake.

For more information on how to buy, eat or prepare safe fish, or to get the 2025 Eat Safe Fish Guide for your region, visit Michigan.gov/EatSafeFish or call the MDHHS Division of Environmental Health at 800-648-6942.

Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 542. Her email address is alippert@miningjournal.net.