Arizona’s catch-and-cook crowd is getting a new ingredient in their summer plans: fish-consumption advisories tied to PFAS chemicals. After state testing turned up elevated levels of PFOS in fish from some well-loved lakes and rivers, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality will begin rolling out guidance that ranges from routine EPA and FDA meal advice all the way to “limited consumption” and outright “do not eat” warnings for the most contaminated fish. Anyone who plans to eat what they reel in is being urged to check the latest advisories before tossing that bass or trout into the pan or the freezer.
According to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, PFOS will be added to the state’s Arizona Green Light Fisheries & Fish Consumption Advisory program, with PFOS-based advisories scheduled for publication this summer. ADEQ says it is sampling fish tissue from more than 25 lakes and testing for roughly 40 PFAS compounds in addition to mercury, work the agency notes is funded by American Rescue Plan Act dollars. Officials say they relied on guidance from the Great Lakes Consortium to set advisory thresholds and plan to upload the full dataset to the U.S. EPA water-quality database once the project wraps up.
What state officials are saying
Erin Jordan, who oversees ADEQ’s fish-consumption advisory program, told KJZZ that the new advisories are “really to empower our anglers,” not to scare them off the water. Even so, Jordan said early lab results already include some samples high enough to trigger “do not eat” guidance. She declined to identify which specific waterbody produced the highest readings.
How the advisories work
To keep all the chemistry from turning into alphabet soup, the state converts lab numbers into a simple Green/Orange/Red color system so anglers can see meal limits at a glance, as outlined by the Arizona Game & Fish Department. Green follows EPA and FDA meal recommendations, orange calls for limiting portions, and red means do not eat fish from that waterbody. The Arizona Department of Health Services points out that PFAS concerns are mainly about ingestion, so swimming or catch-and-release fishing is considered to pose little risk of PFAS uptake.
Where PFOS has shown up — and why it matters
State officials say the current advisory map does not yet display PFAS-related warnings, but new flags could appear “in the next few weeks,” KJZZ reported. Other states are already there: in Maine, for instance, the state CDC issued a PFOS fish-consumption scientific brief after elevated PFOS was documented in several inland waters. That kind of move reflects a broader national trend of states folding PFOS into their advisory programs as testing improves and labs expand what they can detect.
Practical steps for anglers
For those who like to eat what they catch, state agencies recommend a few common-sense steps, summarized by the Arizona Game & Fish Department: check current advisories before you cook, lean toward species that tend to build up fewer contaminants (such as stocked trout), trim off the skin and remove organs, and mix up both the species and the sources of fish you eat. Sensitive groups, including pregnant people, nursing parents and young children, are advised to follow the strictest meal limits. If you are unsure, state officials say opting for catch-and-release or limiting fish meals until results are posted is the safer play.
Maps, testing updates and official contacts are available through the ADEQ announcement and Green Light Fisheries eMap links at the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. For questions about health risks from PFAS exposure, state officials recommend talking with your medical provider and reviewing information from the Arizona Department of Health Services.
