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	Podcast:		Local Features by WXPR
	Episode:		A 'Complete Surprise': New Research Shows Higher Lake Levels Equal More Mercury In Fish
	Category:		Government & Organizations
	Duration:		00:04:06
	Publish Date:		2020-04-02 06:01:00
	Description:		Are the Northwoods walleye you catch safe to eat, or do they have too much mercury? The answer is tied to several factors, but new research shows a surprising variable might have the biggest effect. The water level of the lake where you caught the fish could tell you more about its safety than anything else. The realization of the connection started years ago, when lakes researcher Dr. Carl Watras found an interesting trend. The water level on Northwoods lakes, and even the Great Lakes, followed a pattern like a predictable roller coaster: up and down, up and down. “When we plotted all of those data, going back to the 1930s, they all oscillated together. They were dancing to the same beat,” said Watras, a researcher at the UW-Madison Trout Lake Station in Boulder Junction. “It was about a 13-year cycle.” Continuing research by Watras and colleagues revealed surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean directly impacted water level trends in our lakes. He thought his roller-coaster chart
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