Healthy Housing and Environment Team

Mercury

MERCURY IN FISH

The Food and Drug Administration, FDA, has issued warnings about mercury levels in swordfish since 1986. Recently we discovered the problems of mercury in freshwater fish. In this website the Rhode Island Department of Health wants to inform all Rhode Islanders about how to find out if the fish you eat is safe.

To see our brochure “Fish is good, Mercury is Bad” click here English and Spanish.

Advice for fish eating:

Especially for pregnant women, nursing women, women planning a pregnancy, and young children (under 6 years of age)

• According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 2001 advisory: "Seafood can be an important part of a balanced diet for pregnant women and those of childbearing age who may become pregnant. FDA advises these women to select a variety of other kinds of fish -- including shellfish, canned fish, smaller ocean fish or farm-raised fish -- and that these women can safely eat 12 ounces per week of cooked fish. A typical serving size of fish is from 3 to 6 ounces"
• Even though mercury levels in bluefish and striped bass are low, the FDA cautions against eating these fish due to another contaminant, polychlorinated biphenyls, also called PCBs
• Although not regularly caught nor consumed in Rhode Island, tilefish and king mackerel fish are also included in the FDA’s advisory
• Eat no more than 6 ounces of tuna per week
• Choose "light" tuna over "white" tuna
• Avoid fish with the most mercury: bass, pike, and pickerel
• Avoid eating swordfish, shark, bluefish, striped bass and freshwater fish caught in RI waters (except stocked trout)
• Limit black crappie and eel to one meal per month
• With the exception of trout; do not eat any fish from Yawgoog Pond; Windcheck Pond; Meadowbrook Pond; Quidnick Reservoir; the lower Woonasquatucket River and the Blackstone River
• Limit trout caught at Tucker, Yawgoo and Watchaug Ponds to one meal per month
• Although not regularly caught nor consumed in Rhode Island, tilefish and king mackerel fish are also included in the FDA’s advisory.

Advice for those who fish:

• Choose stocked trout to eat
• Vary where you fish, and the types of fish you eat
• Eat smaller fish (according to RI Department of Environmental Management's allowable size limit regulations for freshwater and saltwater
• For the Woonasquatucket River, Mashapaug Pond and other urban rivers and ponds, fishing can still be enjoyed by those who "catch and release"
• Preliminary data from a Pan Fish Study completed in 1998 indicates relatively high levels of mercury in fish from Barber Pond, Bowdish Reservoir, Curran Reservoir, Echo Lake, Indian Lake and School House Pond
• Preliminary assessments of fish from Mashapaug Pond indicate elevated levels of several contaminants, warranting further study

Learn more about the Woonasquatucket River advisory http://www.epa.gov/NE/ra/woonas/dont.pdf  http://epa.gov/region01/superfund/sites/centredale