Is my catch safe to eat? Michigan's Eat Safe Fish guide, explained

The Eat Safe Fish guides are updated every spring by MDHHS — the state health department, a different agency than the DNR, which trips people up. Check your water in the current guide.

The short version

Fish is healthy food, and Michigan fish are tested every year. For most waters and most species, the answer is simply “yes, regularly.” But some waters and species carry serving limits, and a few say Do Not Eat — and the Eat Safe Fish Guides are the free, region-by-region answer key.

How the guide works

Find your lake or river → find your species → read the “MI Servings” per month. The guidelines are set to protect everyone, including kids and women who are or may become pregnant. A serving is palm-of-your-hand sized — six to eight ounces for an adult, two to four for a child. The chemicals being tracked — mercury, PCBs, dioxins, and PFOS — can’t be seen, smelled, or cooked away, which is why the testing matters.

For inland lakes not specifically listed, a statewide mercury advisory applies: limit larger rock bass, yellow perch, and crappie (roughly nine inches and up) to about one meal a week. That statewide advisory doesn’t cover the Great Lakes or rivers — those are listed individually in the guides.

The hopeful, practical part

Smart choices make a real difference:

• Smaller and younger fish carry less of everything.
• Panfish are generally safer than big predators — the bluegills your kids catch are usually a better dinner bet than a trophy pike.
• Trim the fat: belly fat, back fat, and skin hold much of the PCB and dioxin load. (Mercury and PFOS live in the fillet itself, so trimming doesn’t help there — serving guidance does.)
• Grill or broil so fat drips away.

A few well-known local listings, stated plainly: Lake St. Clair muskie carries a Do Not Eat for mercury, and several Rouge River species carry Do Not Eat listings for PFOS. Your water is in the guide — two minutes settles it. And for store-bought fish, MDHHS publishes a companion Buy Safe Fish guide.

The signpost

The regional guides — updated each spring — live at Michigan.gov/EatSafeFish, and the MDHHS info line is 800-648-6942. Catching the fish is the DNR’s department; eating them is this one’s.

New to fishing here? Start with Fishing in Michigan, explained.