Louisiana posts mercury fish advisories for seven waterways

Louisiana health and wildlife agencies issued fish-consumption advisories for seven waterways on Sept. 24, 2026, after tissue sampling found mercury high enough to change the guidance. Two are new: the Mermentau River and Lake Arthur, and the Vermilion River and Bayou Tortue. Five are updates: Bayou De Loutre and associated lakes, the Boeuf River, Lake Bistineau, the Pearl River, and Tew Lake. Acadiana News First reported that the state now has 52 freshwater mercury advisories, plus an advisory for certain offshore species in the Gulf.

The signed Vermilion advisory covers the river from Interstate 10 west of Breaux Bridge through Bayou Tortue to Intracoastal City, in Lafayette, St. Martin, and Vermilion parishes. Women of childbearing age and children under 7 should not eat more than one meal a month of largemouth bass, or more than two meals a month combined of bigmouth buffalo, black and white crappie (sac-a-lait), bowfin, flathead catfish, freshwater drum (gaspergou), redear sunfish, and white bass. Other adults and children 7 and older are not under a limit on that water.

The Mermentau advisory runs from the confluence of Bayou Nezpique, Bayou des Cannes, and Bayou Plaquemine Brule, through Lake Arthur, to the Intracoastal Waterway, in Jefferson Davis, Acadia, Cameron, and Vermilion parishes. Women of childbearing age and children under 7 should not eat more than one meal a month of bowfin (choupique, grinnel), or more than two meals a month combined of flathead catfish, freshwater drum, largemouth bass, and warmouth. Other adults and children 7 and older should not eat more than three meals a month of bowfin.

Mercury cannot be cleaned or cooked out of a fillet. It builds in the food chain, and larger predator fish generally carry more than smaller fish. Fetuses and children under 7 are the sensitive groups, along with pregnant women, women who may become pregnant, and women who are breastfeeding. An advisory is not a ban on eating fish. Read the sheet for the water you fish. Current advisories are on LDH’s Eat Safe Fish site, or call 1-888-293-7020. Notices may also be posted at public boat launches.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Acadiana News First — La. issues mercury-related fish consumption advisories for 7 waterways (Sept. 24, 2026). Meal limits and boundaries: LDH — Vermilion River and Bayou Tortue advisory (PDF) and LDH — Mermentau River and Lake Arthur advisory (PDF), both issued Sept. 24, 2026. Advisories: ldh.la.gov/EatSafeFish.