Mercury from coal fired power plants and other sources travels through the atmosphere and water.
Mercury from coal fired power plants and other sources travels through the atmosphere and water. Some is changed to methylmercury, which can enter the food chain to be concentrated at each step on that chain. Large old predators like sharks and pike, or scavengers like halibut, hold the greatest concentrations of mercury. To produce the summary of advice on consumption, we looked at a wide variety of data sources, summarized below:
Kind of fish | Mercury (ppm) | Mercury (micrograms per serving) | Max servings per month | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|
Shark | 1.182 | 201 | 1.1 | A |
Shark | 0.988 | 168 | 1.3 | G |
Tuna (albacore) | 0.35 | 60 | 3.6 | I |
Pike | .15-3.4 | B | ||
Pike | 0.35 | 60 | 3.6 | D |
Pike | 0.35 | 60 | 3.6 | F |
Pike | 0.152 | 26 | 8.2 | E |
Halibut | 0.122 to 0.950 | A | ||
Halibut | 0.325 | 55 | 3.9 | A |
Halibut | 0.217 | 37 | 5.8 | E |
Lake Trout | 0.303 | 52 | 4.1 | A |
Rainbow Trout | 0.21 | 36 | 6 | A |
Trout | 0.072 | 12 | 17.4 | G |
Tuna (canned, light) | 0.12 | 20 | 10.4 | I |
Tuna (canned, light) | 0.112 | 19 | 11.2 | G |
Crab | 0.06 | 10 | 20.9 | G |
Krill | 0.05 | 9 | 25.1 | H |
Pollack | 0.045 | 8 | 27.8 | E |
Pollack | 0.041 | 7 | 30.6 | G |
Salmon | 0.04 | 7 | 31.3 | A |
Salmon | 0.027 | 5 | 46.4 | E |
Salmon | 0.014 | 2 | 89.5 | G |
Oyster | 0.013 | 2 | 96.4 | G |
By Bretwood Higman, Ground Truth Trekking
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