US Mercury Warnings for Fish
After coming across the recent fish consumption advisory update in Illinois yesterday, I thought I’d post this link for the other 49 states. Illinois is of particular interest to me since I live and fish here, obviously. But if you’re interested in the state of fish in your state, you can check out the list of fish consumption advisories by state at the Environmental Protection Agency’s website. The numbers are grim. Of those tested, about 30% are contaminated. That’s something like 12 million acres.
You also may want to be aware that the fish you purchase can also pose a risk. Kids are most vulnerable, but pregnant women should really avoid eating anything containing PCBs and mercury, among other nasties, because it can adversely affect fetal development. Some of these chemicals seem to have delayed development as a specialty, so it’s best just to cross some fish off your menu for 9 months or so.
The Natural Defense Council Guide to Mercury in Fish gives a long list of the fish you can buy in the grocery store with the fewest problems and the ones that tend to contain higher amounts of problem chemicals. It also points out the safe fish that are still not a great choice because 
they’re being too heavily fished. It’s an interesting list to peruse. Just remember that you can’t go by that list with the fish you catch. You’ll need to look at your state information at the EPA link above to see if the levels are dangerous in the water where you caught it.
I was encouraged to see the list and find that pollock, tilapia and wild caught salmon are on the list of those with the least mercury in them since we tend to eat a lot of them. You’ll want to make sure your salmon is wild and not farmed, as the farmed variety tends to contain PCBs and you don’t want that. Haddock, flounder, scallops and shrimp are on the list with the least mercury, but the site warns that they’re overfished and may be fished with methods that are terrible for the environment, too.
Lots of good and familiar (and yummy) fish are on the medium mercury contamination list that recommends 6 or less servings a month. Cod, halibut, lobster, snapper and tuna (fresh and canned chunk light) are among those, with some also overfished and fish in environmentally irresponsible ways. For the high mercury fish, the report suggests 3 or fewer servings a month. This includes canned albacore tuna and yellowfin tuna, as well as mackerel, grouper, bluefish and sea bass. And I didn’t know this, but apparently we’re supposed to completely avoid orange roughy, marlin, king mackerel, shark, swordfish, bigeye tuna, ahi tuna and tilefish. Apparently those delicious fish are basically stewing in a mercury bath and even one meal is risky, according to this report which used FDA and EPA information to compile the data.
Tuna is also apparently the way most Americans end up ingested mercury, probably because tuna is such a popular food, and the canned variety is easily affordable and can be used in a variety of ways, even eaten right from the can.
How Much Does it Take for a Mercury Warning?
Fish with low amounts of mercury are those found in waters that contain mercury at the ratio of somewhere below 0.09 parts per million. High levels are considered between 0.3 and 0.49 parts per million. Fish in waters that contain more than 0.5 parts per million are the ones you should always avoid. That might not sound like much, but personally I’d really like there to be no highly toxic mercury in my fishing water. The US has been issuing mercucy fish consumption advisories since 2003, as well as tips on how to prepare fish and how to clean fish to minimize things like chlordane and PCBs in your meals.
If it’s in the water, it’s in the ground and the things that grow there and the rain that falls hither and yon. It’s just a bad situation all around. And a preventable one or at least one that can be minimized, which is what makes it a wee bit annoying. Coal power plants burn coal to make power, and the smoke contains the mercury that burns out of the coal. Yet little is done to minimize this, though it’s quite an achievable aim because smaller incinerators that also put out mercury have proven that it can be curtailed.
Chlorine plants are also top causes of mercury in the water because apparently they send about 50 tons of the stuff into the air each year. It’s just considered “lost” by the plants because they don’t know exactly how it happens, and the EPA doesn’t really seem to care about finding out. I’ll bet if you live near one of these places, where the mercury level in the air is outrageous, you’re interested in finding out, aren’t you? Auto scrap plans contribute up to 12 more tons of that thanks to the light switches in cars that melt and release their mercury when the vehicles are being recycled. Vehicles are no longer manufactured with mercury in them–apparently since 2003 when people got angry about it. But look at all the older cars out there. A fix would be to just remove the switches very quickly before recycling the car. A few states are working toward this requirement. Let’s hope that idea spreads far and wide.
Mercury is also used in PVC production, gold mining, batteries, dental fillings, some medical applications and other things. Phasing it out wherever possible seems like a dandy idea to me. Especially since it’s far from a hopeless situation. Apparently, in time it becomes far less dangerous as it will settle in the water and remain in places like the bottom of riverbeds. That means fish won’t be consuming it in their daily hauls and they’ll be safer for us to eat.
Photo: redjar
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Tagged With commercial fish, farmed fish, fish consumption advisories, mercury pollution, mercury warning, overfishing, purchased fish, water contamination
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