Fish Advisory Maps by County
These maps highlight public access fishing waters and provide anglers and fish consumers a visual guide to the different types of consumption advice. There may be other waters in your county with public access that are not highlighted in these maps.
The maps show advisory locations to the the best of our knowledge. Please contact HRFA@health.ny.gov if you are aware of any additional natural or man-made barriers preventing fish passage (that should or should not be included on these maps). We appreciate all feedback. These detailed maps are the first in a series that will be available over time.
Click on the purple drop-down menu to select a county map (opens as a PDF):
Counties highlighted in green on the map below currently have county level maps available.
View the color-coded map guide (PDF) or scroll below the map.
County Map Color-Coding Guide:
Blue waters (General Advisory)
Everyone in the family can enjoy up to four fish meals a month from waters highlighted in blue. This general advice is important because not all fish have been tested, fish may contain unidentified contaminants, and there are some chemicals (such as mercury and PCBs) that are commonly found in NYS fish. The general advisory applies to any water in New York State that doesn’t have a regional or specific advisory.
Green waters (Adirondack/Catskill Regional Advisory)
The Adirondack and the Catskill Regions have additional advisories to limit or not eat certain kinds of fish for women under 50 and children under 15 because some fish tend to have higher levels of mercury. These waters are highlighted in green.
Please check the Adirondack Region and Catskill Region pages for more information.
Purple waters
Purple waters can be good choice for the family. The advice for some fish species may be four meals per month, one meal per month, or if a species is known to have higher levels of chemicals, NYS DOH recommends avoiding eating that species. Check the tables in the region where you are fishing to find the advice for your waterbody.
Red waters (Specific Advisory)
Women under 50 and children under 15 should not eat any fish from waters highlighted in red. Waters highlighted in red have stricter advice because contaminant levels in some fish are higher. Families may want to consider catch and release fishing.
Men and older women can find the advice for these waters at www.health.ny.gov/fish. Most waters with specific advisories have restrictions on only a few species of fish for men and older women.
Some waterbody names are underlined and bolded and some are not. The waters that are underlined and bolded have specific advisories because testing showed higher contaminant levels in some fish. Although their tributaries and connected waters are not underlined and bolded, follow the same advice because chemicals remain in fish when they move from one waterbody to another.
Connected tributary
All waters in NYS have some type of advisory, as listed above. Tributaries share the advisory of the water they are connected to unless there is a barrier, such as a dam or waterfall, that stops fish from moving upstream or downstream. Some of the streams and rivers in this county are shown as black lines (click link for map guide to see line key). They may or may not have access.
Help us make the maps more accurate
These maps show the advisory locations to the best of our knowledge, however, local knowledge of streams/ lakes and barriers can help us improve the maps. If you are aware of any additional natural or man-made barriers preventing fish passage (or barriers that have been removed), or if you have questions, please contact us at HRFA@health.ny.gov or call 518-402-7530. We appreciate all feedback.
Click to view the color-coded map guide (PDF) for more information.
