Sportsmen applaud new EPA rules
Submitted by scharrison on Mon, 03/21/2011 - 8:42am
Tired of throwing tainted fish back in the water:
Mercury, arsenic and dioxins emitted by coal-fired power plants would have to be reduced under proposed rules unveiled by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week. While the restrictions are written for public-health benefits under the Clean Air Act, a national sportsmen's group is applauding the move in a new report because of additional benefits - those to wildlife and fish.
It's been a while since we posted the list of fish to avoid eating due to Mercury bioaccumulation, so here it is again:
Ocean Fish:
Albacore (white) tuna** fresh or canned
Almaco jack
Banded rudderfish
Cobia
Crevalle jack
Greater amberjack
South Atlantic grouper (gag, scamp, red and snowy)
King mackerel
Ladyfish
Little tunny
Marlin
Orange roughy
Shark
Spanish mackerel
Swordfish
Tilefish
Tuna, fresh or frozen**Freshwater Fish:
Blackfish (bowfin)*
Black crappie***
Catfish (caught wild)*
Jack fish (chain pickerel)*
Largemouth bass (statewide)
Walleye from Lake Fontana and Lake Santeetlah (Graham and Swain counties)
Warmouth*
Yellow perch**High mercury levels have been found in blackfish (bowfin), catfish, jack fish (chain pickerel), warmouth, and yellow perch caught south and east of Interstate 85.
**Different species from canned light tuna
***High mercury levels have been found in black crappie caught south and east of Interstate 95.
Also worth repeating: The methyl mercury that bioaccumulates in fish also bioaccumulates in the human body. We can't get it out of our system, either. And unfortunately, that methyl mercury is drawn to the soft tissue of a developing fetus.
Man, that's a lot of fish
Gotta love those free markets!
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
I know, right?
There's less demand for the tainted fish, so the price goes down and people save money in their monthly food budget!
I love catfish
...but I can do without.
Thanks, Steve. Catfish is about the only fish on the list that I eat...that and tuna, but I swore off tuna a long time ago. Good information.
***************************
Vote Democratic, the ass you save may be your own.
I used to be a big trout fan,
but I learned something a few years ago that bothered me.
While they don't appear to be so much in the Mercury-tainted crowd, they are known for PCB accumulations. So I used to eat farm-raised trout a lot, because they weren't exposed to PCBs nearly as much as free-swimmers. The problem is, farm-raised trout don't burn off the smaller amount of PCBs they do accumulate, so they can end up with higher levels than their free cousins. Bummer.
that is a bummer
I'm more a fan of salt water fish anyway....
This is when I wish I had a pond. A friend a mile away has a lovely spring fed pond that is stocked with fishies and I'm welcome to fish there. Currently there is no construction around the pond, but they had troubles a few years ago with silt runoff and construction debris being thrown into their pond from a neighboring property. I wonder if there are home water tests they could do to determine if the fish are safe to eat?
***************************
Vote Democratic, the ass you save may be your own.
Just a note re catfish
The younger, smaller dudes should have much lower levels of mercury in them, and the farther West you go the better. That size thing actually goes for all the fish above, especially the long-living predatory fish.
that is really good to know...
I probably don't eat them often enough for it to be a problem, but I lived near Lake Norman about 20 years ago and ate catfish a few times a month.
***************************
Vote Democratic, the ass you save may be your own.