The list of fishing holes on Maine’s forever chemical watch list just got longer.

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention updated its fish consumption advisory on Friday, adding four freshwater sites containing elevated levels of harmful toxic chemicals, known as PFAS, and beefing up protections for two other locations.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection found unsafe levels of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, or PFOS, in fish collected in 2024 from:
• Lovejoy Pond in Albion
• Sebasticook River in Burnham and Benton
• Collyer Brook in Gray
• Androscoggin Lake in Leeds and Wayne

“Fish are an excellent source of protein and nutrients, but our recent tests revealed elevated PFAS levels in certain waters,” said Maine CDC Director Dr. Puthiery Va. “This science-based advisory helps those who fish locally to make informed choices so they can continue enjoying fish safely.”

The findings led to new consumption advisories: no more than six fish a year of any kind from Lovejoy Pond; five fish a year of any kind from the Sebasticook; one brook trout a month from Collyer Brook, and one black crappie a month from Androscoggin Lake.

The latest test results also prompted Maine CDC to beef up consumption guidelines for two already listed spots: no more than 10 fish of any kind a year from Annabessacook Lake in Monmouth and Winthrop and no more than three fish of any kind a year from Messalonskee Stream in Oakland and Waterville.

When issuing consumption advisories, Maine CDC defines a fish meal as an 8-ounce filet.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are used to make thousands of common household and industrial products resistant to heat, water and grease. They are found almost everywhere: in animals from pandas to polar bears, in the rain and even in our blood.

They eventually wind up in our public water supply and many of our ponds, lakes, rivers and oceans. Some of the PFAS are absorbed by fish, which are then eaten. Exposure to even trace amounts of PFAS poses a human health risk, according to federal regulators.

In 2024, DEP tested fish from 43 sites across the state, prioritizing potentially contaminated areas. Maine has more than 32,000 miles of rivers and streams, 6,000 lakes and ponds and 360,000 licensed anglers, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

The overwhelming majority of freshwater fishing locations remain untested because it is difficult to find a lab that can test the fish tissue, the turnaround time is long and the fees are high – $500 for every five-fish sample, according to Maine DEP.

The state still stocks some of the contaminated waters with trout to encourage fishing even while warning anglers not to eat their catch, a practice criticized by some public health advocates. But IFW argues most licensed anglers catch and release their fish, even from pristine waters.

The latest testing results increased Maine’s revised fish consumption advisory list to 25 locations. Maine also issues fish consumption advisories due to mercury contamination and elevated levels of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), dioxins and DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane).

PFAS, often called forever chemicals, got their nickname because they can linger in the environment for decades, and build up in the blood and organs of fish, game, livestock animals and humans. Maine has also issued consumption advisories for deer and wild turkeys.

According to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, exposure to certain PFAS can cause changes in liver and kidney function, lower immune response to vaccines in children, pregnancy complications and increased risk of kidney cancer and possibly testicular cancer.

Forever chemicals found in freshwater fish are usually connected to locations where forever chemicals were used in manufacturing, spread on farm fields as agricultural fertilizer made from sewage sludge, deposited in unlined landfills or sprayed in high-heat firefighting foams, according to the Maine CDC.

In 2021, Maine lawmakers adopted legislation to ban sludge spreading and phase PFAS out of most consumer products by 2030. Just this month, the Legislature adopted a $5 million take-back program to accept PFAS-laden firefighting foams from Maine’s fire departments, manufacturers and airports.