An official with a research institute based in Gorham cautioned Tuesday against eating fish caught in Maine lakes because of high mercury levels.
“I wouldn’t eat fish under any circumstance from any Maine lake because of mercury,” said Wing Goodale, deputy director and senior scientist at Biodiversity Research Institute.
Goodale said mercury winds up in Maine waters through improperly discarded consumer products like lamps and thermometers, in addition to coal-burning industries in other regions with emissions drifiting into Maine. He said mercury is released when coal is burned.
“In Maine, we’re the tailpipe of America,” Goodale said.
The warning comes during Earth Week, the yearly event to celebrate the Earth and discuss current environmental issues and solutions.
The Biodiversity Research Institute is a nonprofit ecological group that conducts research across the United States and eastern Canada. The institute tests feathers and blood of live birds to determine mercury content and the institute has begun testing for other pollutants.
“We’ve geared up to do a broad-based contaminant study in Casco Bay,” Goodale said,
The institute provides reports to congressional and legislative delegations.
“Our role is to provide policy makers with information,” Goodale said.
John Boland, fisheries director at the Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Department, Tuesday cited a warning published in the state’s fishing laws and rules.
“Pregnant and nursing women, women who may get pregnant, and children under age 8 should not eat any freshwater fish from Maine’s inland waters. Except, for brook trout and landlocked salmon, one meal per month is safe.”
All other adults and children older than 8 can eat two freshwater fish meals per month. For brook trout and landlocked salmon, the limit is one meal per week.”
Boland said lake trout, bass, pickerel and sometimes perch are more likely to have higher levels of mercury than brook trout and salmon that have shorter life spans.
But besides mercury, some waters listed in the state’s warning have high levels of other contaminants like PCBs, dioxins or DDT in them. The state’s safe-fish eating guidelines limit is six meals per year for fish caught in Red Brook in Scarborough.
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