Official State of Iowa Website Here is how you know

Iowa - Caught Fish Are Safe to Eat

Most of Iowa’s streams, rivers and lakes offer safe and high-quality fish that pose little or no threat to human health if eaten. Some limitations may apply for young children and pregnant women. Here’s a Fish Consumption Fact Sheet from the Iowa DNR and the Iowa Dept. of Public Health for more information. 

Find the most up to date list of consumption advisories at www.iowadnr.gov/Environmental-Protection/Water-Quality/Water-Monitoring/Fish-Tissue. New advisories are issued and existing advisories are removed, based on results of annual fish contaminant monitoring in Iowa.

Mississippi River - Pool 18


Pool 18 of the Upper Mississippi River extends 26.6 miles from Lock and Dam 18 in Gladstone, IL to Lock and Dam 17 in New Boston, IL. Pool 18 contains 11,746 acres of aquatic habitat. Pool 18 has islands, side channels, and backwaters. Most of the rivers floodplain in Pool 18 lies behind agricultural levies. This training of the river has caused loss and degradation of much of the rivers side channel and backwater habitats. The Iowa River enters the Mississippi River in upper Pool 18. The Iowa DNR’s Lake Odessa Wildlife Management Area is located in upper Pool 18 above the mouth of the Iowa River. The Keithsburg Division of the Port Louisa National Wildlife Refuge is also located in Pool 18.

Navigation maps are available from this US Army Corps of Engineers website (link takes you offsite).