Pollution in our Waters

Lake Hurley is like many of the lakes in Eastern South Dakota. It is surrounded by farming and livestock. The South Dakota Game Fish and Parks has issued a warning about lake Hurley for mercury pollution. This is scary because as a heavy metal mercury is extremely dangerous to all biology. My other concern is how many fertilizer, herbicide, and pesticide chemicals are in our waters that don't get tested. I keep hearing that fish is a great source of protein without saturated fats like red meat. However, what else are we digesting. The muddier the water the more run off into that water source. I also see massive Algae Blooms like in lake Thompson and other lakes. This happens naturally, but how much of it is caused by the fertilizers from the local farms running into the lake. Also, cattle bathing in the water resources leave waste with bacteria and other micro organism. I don't know about you, but fecal coli form does not sound good tasting. Some of the rivers that feed the lakes in South Dakota are even more contaminated because of the amount of shoreline. Makes me not want to eat the fish coming from these natural resources. Don't get me wrong the farm raised fish from Asia scares me due to the lack of regulation. With the recent oil spills and nuclear meltdown in japan how contaminated is the ocean in general. The point of this post, is that if we don't do something soon and take care of our natural water resources. No wild caught fish or shellfish will be healthy to eat. The scope of the pollution is overwhelming and near impossible to control. We will need to grow all of our fish and shellfish in controlled tanks or lakes that are constantly monitored. This is not a bad idea, however catching a non contaminated fish in the wild like our ancestors did sounds healthier.