Lead poisoning from ingested lead fishing tackle is the leading known cause of adult loon mortality in New Hampshire, accounting for 38% of all documented adult loon deaths between 1989 and 2023.  The loss of these loons, which do not reproduce until their sixth year of life on average, has had a large negative impact on our state’s small loon population.  It has slowed the recovery of the species in New Hampshire and together with other increasing challenges it may even jeopardize the future viability of New Hampshire’s threatened population.

LPC recently published a paper in the peer-reviewed Journal of Wildlife Management documenting the population-level effects of mortality from lead fishing tackle on New Hampshire’s loons. Click here to read the paper.