2 Bear Creek areas under fish advisories
RUSSELLVILLE — The 2026 Alabama Fish Consumption Advisories recommends not consuming largemouth bass taken from two areas of Franklin County due to mercury concerns.
The advisories make the recommendations for the Cedar Creek Reservoir dam forebay to one mile upstream of the dam, and the Little Bear Creek Reservoir dam forebay area at Little Bear Creek mile 12.5.
The recommendations came from a statewide survey of Alabama’s rivers, streams and public lakes, including in the Shoals area.
The Alabama Department of Public Health compiles an annual advisory booklet, in cooperation with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and Tennessee Valley Authority.
The advisory stated toxic chemicals have been found in Alabama lakes and rivers, and some can accumulate in fish, posing health risks to those who eat them. Officials sample fish to provide information on contaminant levels.
Mercury was the single contaminant cited in each of the 11 locations cited in the report.
“Mercury in the environment comes from natural resources and pollution,” the advisory stated. “The largest sources of pollution have been from decades of burning fossil fuel and waste.”
It explained mercury builds up in a fish’s tissue or muscles.
“It can also build up in our tissues when we eat fish contaminated with mercury,” the booklet stated. “The risk is only in eating the fish, which means you can still enjoy water activities like catch and release fishing, swimming, boating and other water recreational activities. The mercury risk depends on how much and how often we eat certain types of fish.”
It stated mercury in fish is a common issue throughout the nation and high levels may lead to heart disease in adults.
“Health effects of mercury in adults can usually be corrected if a person stops eating fish that contain high levels of mercury,” it stated.
When the advisory recommends a limited number of meals of fish per month, a meal is considered an 8-ounce fish, which it stated is approximately the size of two decks of playing cards.
CONTRIBUTED/DAN BUSEY
Two men fish from a boat June 18 on Little Bear Creek near Bates Landing and Boat Ramp in Phil Campbell. The 2026 Alabama Fish Consumption Advisories recommends no consumption of largemouth bass from the Little Bear Creek embankment.
Shoals area concerns
The advisory also includes recommendations in Lauderdale and Colbert counties. Those include:
• Pickwick Reservoir, Bear Creek embayment, at Bear Creek mile 8, approximately five miles downstream of Buzzard Roost/Bear Creek confluence in Colbert County — two meals per month of largemouth bass.
• Bear Creek at Allsboro Road in Colbert County — no largemouth bass consumption.
• Natchez Trace Parkway Bear Creek mile 25 in Colbert County — two meals per month of channel catfish, and no spotted bass consumption.
• Cane Creek embayment, approximately one mile upstream of the confluence in Colbert County — no largemouth bass consumption.
• Cypress Creek embayment, approximately a half mile upstream of Alabama Highway 20 in Lauderdale County — two meals per month of channel catfish and no consumption of largemouth bass.
• Little Bear Creek embayment, beginning approximately one mile upstream of the confluence with the river in Colbert County — no consumption of largemouth bass.
• Tennessee River mile 230, 2.5 miles upstream of the river/Second Creek confluence in Colbert County — one meal of largemouth bass per month.
• Spring Creek employment approximately one mile upstream of Pickwick Reservoir confluence in Colbert County — one meal of largemouth bass per month.
• Wheeler Reservoir, upstream of the dam at Tennessee River mile 277 near the confluence of First Creek with the main channel in Lauderdale County — one meal of largemouth bass per month.
