Interesting read on Mercury levels in fish going up again

This section is for our members to talk about things not actually about fishing or boating. However, please read the Code of Conduct before posting.
Image

Moderators: bman, Chalk, Tom Keels

Post Reply
luckywsp
Posts: 60
Joined: March 19th, 2014, 10:32 am

Interesting read on Mercury levels in fish going up again

Post by luckywsp »

Thought some of you might find this interesting about the relaxing of rules for coal powered energy plants and the increased release of particulate matter and mercury into the environment

https://oneanglersvoyage.blogspot.com/2 ... g.html?m=1
User avatar
Red Beard
Posts: 642
Joined: March 16th, 2020, 9:06 pm

Re: Interesting read on Mercury levels in fish going up agai

Post by Red Beard »

Interesting read for sure. Thanks for sharing..

I wonder how oysters play a part in all this.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
User avatar
bman
Moderator
Posts: 4800
Joined: December 4th, 2005, 9:26 am
Location: Tallahassee
Contact:

Re: Interesting read on Mercury levels in fish going up agai

Post by bman »

A tip - cut ALL the dark meat off your fish fillets!

A Grad student at FSU is working on a complete study... but short story the mercury is concentrated in the dark meat around the lateral line of a fish.
Does cutting it out eliminate the mercury from the fish - NO. does it reduce the mercury and other heavy metals you consume- YES.

I've had this country boy intuition for a number of years- the dark meat in a fish tasted metallic to me.
I spoke to a scientist at the mag lab about it and he told me of the grad students study.

He is going to let me know when its realeased!
Barry Bevis, Realtor and Owner of BigBendFishing.net
I liked it so much, I bought the company ;-)

http://www.bevisrealty.com
Image
TEAM "Duck Season!"
luckywsp
Posts: 60
Joined: March 19th, 2014, 10:32 am

Re: Interesting read on Mercury levels in fish going up agai

Post by luckywsp »

Good tip Bman. The dark lines on the meat never taste good. A little extra work at the fillet table is worth it at the dinner table. I didn’t realize I was cutting out contaminants too.
doomtrpr_z71
Posts: 790
Joined: March 3rd, 2015, 1:09 pm

Re: Interesting read on Mercury levels in fish going up agai

Post by doomtrpr_z71 »

It's a little hard to pin that on the coal rules since sulfur emissions were down 73% in the us when the article was written. Sulfur emissions are low enough now that farmers have to buy sulfur from the power generation companies and reapply it to fields now whereas in the past sulfur wasn't needed in a fertility program. More than likely the reason there are new recommendations for threshers etc is due to the EPA/fda using a blanket recommendation since they didn't have enough samples and now that has been revised with more current data.
luckywsp
Posts: 60
Joined: March 19th, 2014, 10:32 am

Re: Interesting read on Mercury levels in fish going up agai

Post by luckywsp »

Did you read the article? It said that the emissions are down which correlated with a reduction in Mercury along with a reduction in particulate matter from the coal plants. It said that if the plants reverted back to the old rules then Mercury would increase again.
doomtrpr_z71
Posts: 790
Joined: March 3rd, 2015, 1:09 pm

Re: Interesting read on Mercury levels in fish going up agai

Post by doomtrpr_z71 »

luckywsp wrote:Did you read the article? It said that the emissions are down which correlated with a reduction in Mercury along with a reduction in particulate matter from the coal plants. It said that if the plants reverted back to the old rules then Mercury would increase again.
Yes I read it, the particulates won't be increasing because the scrubbers are already installed and sulfur emissions won't go back up. The new rules take in to account economic impact, Mercury emissions won't increase, they most likely won't be cut much more with current technology. The thresher samples are new, before it was a blanket recommendation. Besides the emissions aren't very high in Georgia or Florida, the highest levels are in the rust belt and those emissions aren't likely to have much of an impact on the gulf.
luckywsp
Posts: 60
Joined: March 19th, 2014, 10:32 am

Re: Interesting read on Mercury levels in fish going up agai

Post by luckywsp »

Since the scrubbers are already installed what is the point in rolling back the regulations? Just curious on your take. Would there be a financial reason for any of the plants to remove them again?
doomtrpr_z71
Posts: 790
Joined: March 3rd, 2015, 1:09 pm

Re: Interesting read on Mercury levels in fish going up agai

Post by doomtrpr_z71 »

The regulations in question were the next step essentially, the roll back just keeps them from being implemented, most of the big plants already meet it anyway. The number one target for the econazis is plant scherer in Juliette ga, it's the number one source of co2 in the us, it's number one because of how much power it generates. No scrubbers will be pulled out, they make the power companies money now because the scrubbed material is sold to make fertilizer.
Post Reply