Mercury is especially high in larger fish such as sharks and king mackerel, and they should not be eaten at all.
By Associated Press
Published October 5, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - For someone living in Florida, it could be easy to go fishing on Saturday and spend the rest of the week eating the catch. Grouper on Monday, maybe some pompano or dolphin fish at midweek, and a grilled shark steak on Friday night.
That might be a bad idea, especially for women of childbearing age and children, the Florida Department of Health says. Several species of fish caught in Florida waters contain levels of mercury so high they should be eaten only once a week.
Mercury consumption can damage the brain and nervous system.
Some fish, including large sharks and the biggest king mackerel - those high on the food chain - shouldn't be eaten at all because of the amount of mercury they could contain, health officials say.
The Health Department says levels of mercury in fish are generally getting lower - a study by the Department of Environmental Protection last year found that mercury in birds and freshwater fish in the Everglades has dropped by more than 60 percent over the past decade. And that's likely the case statewide, officials say.
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 bigger ones.
Florida officials in the past only issued more general advisories about not eating fish caught in certain areas, said state Health Department toxicologist Dr. Joe Sekerke.
For the new guidelines, officials tested several common eating fish and ranked them on how often the general public should eat them, with separate advisories for women of childbearing age and children.
"We have information on a lot of species that we didn't have information on before," Sekerke said. "What people need to know is what fish they can eat."
They can eat dolphin fish (mahi-mahi), fantail mullet, pompano, gulf flounder and lots of other fish of small to medium size up to twice a week without worrying about mercury consumption. Bigger fish, like amberjack or red drum, should be eaten only once a week, according to the guidelines, less often by children and women of childbearing age.
Shark and king mackerel should only be eaten once a month by most people and not at all by young women and children, the guidelines say. Sharks bigger than about 31/2 feet shouldn't be eaten by anyone because of the mercury content.
Mercury builds up in larger fish because of the smaller fish they eat.
"Generally speaking, the higher it is in the food chain the more likely it is to have high levels of mercury," Sekerke said.
The guidelines are mostly aimed at people who eat fish that they or others they know catch, because it's hard to know where a fish bought at the store came from and how big it was, and thus how much mercury it likely contained.
The federal Food and Drug Administration already had issued recommendations that pregnant women and young children not eat any swordfish, shark, king mackerel or tilefish and limit their intake of tuna.
