State gives warning about mercury in fish

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As a brilliant sun smiled on the Carolina Beach City Marina on Thursday evening, Caleb Batson scowled while stretching a tarp atop his 40-foot cruiser.

He had just been told North Carolina issued mercury warnings for 22 species of fish.

"They don't warn you about eating beef or chicken with steroids that can't even stand up when they grow them, but they'll warn you about something wild caught that lives on its own and grows at a normal rate," Batson said, reflecting views of other charter captains whose living comes from the lure of the sea.

State health officials say pregnant women, nursing mothers and children younger than 15 should not eat the subject fish, 17 species of saltwater species and five freshwater.

The advisory recom­mends that most adults eat these varieties once a week at most. Certain levels of mercury can damage the kidneys and the brain.

Tests showed that the fish exceeded North Carolina's safe threshold of 0.4 milligrams for each kilogram of food.

The increases were discovered in newly collected data from state and federal researchers, said Luanne Williams, a toxicologist with the state Department of Health and Human Services.

The March 31 advisory includes Spanish mackerel, marlin, shark and tuna, and warns against eating largemouth bass caught anywhere in the state.

Mercury is found in almost all fish and seafood, Williams said, because of their feeding habits. But mercury levels over the threshold pose a risk.

"We encourage people to eat fish low in mercury. It's a good, healthy source of protein," Williams said.

Williams added that most popular kinds of seafood are still low in mercury. Among the 34 low-mercury species listed on the advisory are shrimp, salmon and scallops.

A fishing industry representative who had not seen the advisory questioned the warning.

"They're erring very heavily on the side of caution," said Sean McKeon, executive director of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, which represents commercial fishing interests in the state. "I just worry that in the name of so-called science, people tend to make crises where none exist."

Environmental groups said the advisory points to a need for greater regulation of the state's coal-fired power plants, which generate mercury pollution.

Luke Ingraham, a Wilmington commercial fisherman who catches various species, said he knows power plants cause problems for fish but that he and other fishermen are powerless to do much about it.

"It hurts, just like when they came out with mad cow disease people stopped eating beef," he said. "There don't seem to be no way around it really."

North Carolina's Environmental Review Commission is proposing rules that would force Progress Energy to severely curtail mer­cury releases from its coal-powered plants. If enacted, that would include the Sutton Plant in Wilmington.

Public hearings on the proposed rules start next month.

Staff writers John DeSantis and Gareth McGrath contributed to this report from the Associated Press.