The N.C. Division of Public Health has issued its largest ever fish advisory due to unsafe levels of mercury found in fish statewide.
The Kinston Free Press reports that the state's health department "recommends that women of childbearing age and children under 15 stop eating 22 types of fish and have only one meal per week of another 34 types of fish and seafood."
Among the kinds of fish that should be avoided are: (from the sea) canned white tuna (albacore tuna), South Atlantic grouper, king mackerel, marlin, shark, Spanish mackerel, swordfish and tuna (fresh/frozen); (from the fresh waters) catfish (caught wild), jackfish, largemouth bass and warmouth.
(A complete list of fish both high and low in mercury can be found here.)
An expert with the Neuse River told the newspaper that the majority of mercury that is emitted into the environment comes from coal-powered power plants.
“These power plants have the ability to control their emissions of mercury,” explained Larry Baldwin, the Neuse River Foundation's lower Neuse River keeper. “They’re just not doing it.”
Baldwin told the Free Press that his concern is more for the fishermen who "fish for their next meal."
“They’re going to be asking themselves, ‘Do I eat today or do I worry about mercury?’”
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