CONCORD, N.H. – So far this year, there has been only one confirmed case of a loon dying by swallowing a lead fishing sinker. That has some state officials hopeful that a recently enacted ban on the sinkers is doing its job.

Others are more cautious.

“Sure, it sounds like a good 36

thing, just one mortality,” said Mark Beauchesne, a state Fish and Game education assistant. “But we also have to look at the year we’ve had weatherwise.

“Angler participation has been down, maybe not for the hard-core angler, but for the weekend angler, and that matters.”

During the last decade, New Hampshire has lost roughly 10 loons a year to lead sinkers and jigs, before lawmakers enacted the ban in January. Two more dead loons were found this year, but their deaths have yet to be analyzed. But even if they did die from lead weights, the mortality rate still is down.

Maine lost 10 loons this year, while Vermont lost two – typical counts for both states. Neither state has a ban on lead sinkers, yet both had the same cold, wet weather this summer.

Drew Major, a contaminants biologist with the U.S. ish and Wildlife Service, said only time will tell how much of the decrease can be credited to the ban.

“We just need to keep monitoring the situation. If we have a normal summer next year, hot and dry, and we see the same mortality results we’ve seen this year, then we’ll know the ban and educational outreach are working.”

For the endangered birds, a low death rate for any reason is good news. The birds have been on the rebound in recent years, thanks to conservation efforts, but only after decades during which their numbers dwindled.