What's Safe?
How much fish can you eat in Florida and be safe from mercury poisoning? It’s a question the state’s Department of Health is charged with answering. Here’s what the agency recommends:
•Eat all you want of fish with methylmercury levels below 0.5 parts per million (ppm).
•If you’re a healthy adult male, limit consumption of fish showing levels between 0.5 and 1.5 ppm to one eight-ounce serving per week; if you’re pregnant or a woman of child-bearing age, don’t eat more than eight ounces of such fish per month.
•Don’t eat fish with more than 1.5 ppm, period.
Saltwater fish are usually far safer than Florida’s wild freshwater fish. The state’s Game and Freshwater Fish Commission keeps a check on mercury levels in freshwater fish around the state. If you’re not sure about the fish from your favorite lake or river, call Dr. Tom Atkeson, state Mercury Program coordinator, at 850-921-0884 or Homer Royals with the GFFC, 352-357-6631.