Florida Fish Can Be Risky As Food

[madfloridian]

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041005/NEWS/410050344/1134

TALLAHASSEE -- SNIP..."Living in Florida, it could be real easy to go fishing on Saturday and spend the rest of the week eating the catch. Grouper on Monday, maybe some pompano or dolphin midweek and then top it off with a nice grilled shark steak on Friday night.

That might be a bad idea, especially for women of child-bearing age and children, according to the Florida Department of Health.

Several species of fish caught in Florida waters still have high enough levels of mercury in them that they should only be eaten once a week...."

This paragraph is scary...levels getting lower but still dangerous..so how dangerous HAVE they been??

SNIP..."A study by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection last year found that mercury in birds and freshwater fish in the Everglades has dropped by more than 60 percent in the last decade. And that's likely the case statewide, according to state officials.

But new testing of more fish confirms what health officials and environmentalists have long warned -- that it is still too dangerous to consume large amounts of many types of fish, especially larger ones...."

So how dangerous has it been...it was higher before but still dangerous now.

[cheezus]

1. same with fish out of the Red River (of the north)

which is why everyone just fishes catch and release on the river. You can eat like, two fish a month (none for preganant women!) because of the mercury levels.

[Spinzonner]

2. Personally, I find it hard to swallow anything coming out of Florida

[fishnfla]

3. Yes mercury is a problem almost everywhere, but this article is bogus

to be brief, people dont catch and eat fish in the way it describes, its unrealistic IMO. For one example (of many) redfish: the limit is one per person, per day, and they have to be under 28" Most anglers are not able to eat twice a week on the reds they catch.

Large kingfish? YUK! The mercury prolly makes it taste better.

I dont wish to diminish the point, mercury is a problem and fisherman are aware, but other consumers, people who eat alot of canned tuna or eat fish at restaurants are just at risk, and the article does not mention that

[donsu]

4. I don't eat the fish and I wouldn't step toe in the dirty water

nt

[KoKo]

5. Since it's Florida EPA saying that levels are lower, I wouldn't be too

concerned about what they were before. Since there's no reason for them to be lower during Bush Administration where the coal plants are running without new regs night and day it probably means the levels are higher than they were before. So what you ate during Clinton and before was probably safer than the lower levels that are unsafe under Jeb's FLA EPA.

I don't eat any fish...and I think as humans we need to...but given what I read about all of them...farm raised, imported and native..I'm afraid to take a chance.

I think Americans are brain dead...or they just are so overloaded with cancer scares they can't deal with any more warnings. Everyone has a story about Old Uncle Harry who ate fish every day and lived to be 98 and never had a problem so who is to know what the truth of anything is..? :shrug: Soon there will be nothing left to eat or drink or we will die of stress worrying about it. No joy left to life when you take away our food and water, is there. :shrug:

[MadHound]

6. Quite frankly this is nothing new, and it is a problem everywhere

I live in Missouri and it has been decades since you could eat your catch out of the Missouri or Mississippi rivers, same goes for most other smaller rivers in the state. Forget about Lake of the Ozarks, or the other big tourist lakes also. Farm ponds and lakes are also verbotten, unless you know the history of the lake and surrounding area real well. This is all due to man made pollution. Raw sewage dumped into the water, oil and other petrochemicals from boats, runoff from farms, lawns and golf courses, storm water runoff from cities and towns, the list of pollutants is almost endless. And it will kill you, or cause serious harm, both in the short and long term.

It's sad when swimming in one of the country's top ten cleanest lakes will give you an ear infection. It is sad when the bottom of a lake is literally tens of feet deep in raw sewage. Its sad when vast swaths of waterways are considered dead water due to runoff and pollution. Its sad when the company responsible(Wal Mart in the latest case to come to my attention) shifts the monetary burden of cleanup onto the local taxpayers, just because they have the clout to do so.

I truly enjoyed fishing when I was a kid and a young man. But there isn't a body of water in this state that I would consider the fish safe to eat, and I'm not going to catch and release, for I consider that unneccessary cruelty. If you're not going to eat a game animal, what is the point in killing or injuring it?

And what is truly sad is that this state of affairs is the norm in this country, not the exception.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

7. Even Maine has a huge problem with mercury in fresh water fish.

Usually affected lakes/ponds would have signs posted, but it's a good rule of thumb to not eat anything you catch. It is rather scary how unimportant this issue is to our current president.

[noonwitch]

8. We have the same problem in the Great Lakes

Mercury in the fish. The fish I buy comes from Alaska, for the most part. That's what my store sells.

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. There's a difference between fresh water fish

and salt water fish.

The first line lists all salt water fish and then goes on to talk about mercury problems associated with fresh water fish. Very confusing article. It seems they are trying to compare apples to oranges?