GotMercury.org Gets Cooperation From Supermarket: testing seafood in two month pilot program

 It has been some time since I mentioned the GotMercury organization.  But that is not to say that they have not been busy.  This is an organization dedicated to making people aware of the unhealthy levels of mercury in our seafood - levels that can, in some cases, reach in excess of 4 times the weekly safe levels recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from just one serving of certain fish.

Much has been written about whale, dolphin, and tuna meat and the high levels of pollutants, like mercury, that can be found in these fish.  Served to children or pregnant women, as is done in many Asian countries, is a risky business indeed.  However, these fish are not the only ones with unsafe levels of mercury in their tissues.

GotMercury.org provides a handy online calculator with which you can use to determine the approximate levels of mercury in various seafood.  There is also a cell phone version of the calculator which I keep with me to educate my friends when we are in a restaurant and they are considering the seafood on the menu.  You enter your weight, select the fish you are considering, and then choose a size portion in ounces.  The calculator then gives you the percentage of your EPA/FDA limit of mercury you will be consuming.  Most people are shocked by the results.

GotMercury has also been hard at work exposing tainted seafood at the seafood counter of your local supermarket.  In years past, they were the renegades, buying seafood like any other customer, then testing it and announcing their findings - which were usually disturbing and much to the chagrin of the supermarket.

However, times are changing.  GotMercury is collaborating with Safe Harbor Foods to do testing of seafood sold through the Safeway supermarket chain - with Safeway's cooperation.  Any tainted seafood that is found will be pulled and not sold.  This is a pilot program that will take place over the next two months in 47 Safeway stores in Oregon and Washington.  From there, it will potentially go nationwide throughout the entire Safeway chain.  You can follow the results of this testing process online either through GotMercury's Facebook or Causes pages.

Congratulations to GotMercury.org, Safe Harbor Foods, and to the Safeway supermarket chain for taking the responsible step in participating even at the risk of losing money should any of their seafood be found to be high in mercury.

And if you don't already have the GotMercury calculator either loaded on your cell phone or bookmarked in your browser, I would highly recommend that you do so.  To do otherwise is a risk not worth taking.

Source: GotMercury.org               

Toxic Fish Investigative Report: making consumers aware of what is in their local markets

While many of us bemoan the recent failure of CITES to initiate trade controls on bluefin tuna due to the concerted efforts of commercial tuna fishing interests, one of the strategies that we can turn to is to chip away at market demand. And one of the best ways to do that is to focus on the self-interest of the user: their own personal health.

Fish like tuna, swordfish, halibut, and others have exceedingly high levels of mercury that accumulate in their muscle and cartilage tissues, often times at levels well over recommended safe levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Got Mercury.org, a part of the Turtle Island Restoration Network, has just issued an investigative report where they sampled fish from 13 markets in the San Francisco area, ranging from a local Safeway to more higher end stores like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. The fish samples were analyzed by an outside, independent laboratory - and the results were not good.

Over 40% of the fish had high levels of mercury (one sample registered over twice the EPA limit). Some of the stores had signs warning of possible mercury contamination; many stores did not. Click here to read the entire report.

Organizations like Got Mercury.org and media like "The Cove" are using a strategy which takes the position that if you don't care about the fate of the animal, at least consider what you are doing to yourself and your children. Perhaps a sad commentary on the attitudes of some regarding conservation, but in my book, whatever gets the job done.

Congrats to Got Mercury.org for telling it like it is.

Read more about Got Mercury.org. Read the entire investigative report.

Conservation's Indirect Strategy: mercury levels in Japanese could effect change

The strategy of reporting on the health impact on humans brought about by the consumption of endangered ocean species continues to gain momentum as a viable approach for garnering public awareness. The Ocean Preservation Society, who produced the award-winning documentary The Cove, is spreading the word about a recent article in The Japan Times about mercury levels in the whale and dolphin meat that is consumed by the people of Taiji, where much of The Cove takes place.

Taiji is known for its capture and bloody harvest of dolphins and small whales - either for aquariums or for human consumption. While there has been much government intervention to manipulate the media and downplay the event, at least one brave Taiji council member moved to have the meat tested. He was eventually shunned and left Taiji, but the testing continued and the results have been reported in some segments of the media who have resisted government pressure.

According to the Kyodo News and The Japan Times, it was found that the people of Taiji, who consume dolphin and whale meat, have mercury levels that are as much as 10 times higher than the Japanese norm. Children, who can be very susceptible to the neurological effects of mercury, were going to school every day only to dine on contaminated dolphin meat as part of the town's school lunch program. Fortunately, the program has now discontinued serving dolphin meat.

Pelagic animals like whales, dolphins, tuna, swordfish, and sharks, unfortunately are able to retain pollutants deep in their tissues. Although mercury seems to be one of the most worrisome agents, other pollutants have been found, including DDT, and other pesticides, in addition to several other industrial chemicals that enter the ocean either directly or from discharge into the atmosphere (which then eventually falls into the sea).

While health threats against mankind might be the impetus needed to produce change in environmental or ecological policy, it seems sad that it has to come to that. It illustrates our self-centered behavior when it's not enough that the atmosphere is being altered or that species are being endangered by over-harvesting or loss of habitat - instead, it takes a direct negative effect on ourselves for us to sit up and take notice.

Perhaps it's academic; it's just human nature and we should use it to our best advantage. Shark conservationists are using mercury poisoning to drum up concern over the demand for shark products; climate change proponents are using documented changes in agricultural output and drought conditions in Africa and the related loss of life to make their case; and groups like GotMercury.org put out information on the pollutant levels in over-fished species like swordfish, tuna, and others. It seems to be a strategy that has potential for generating real change. The problem is that when that change comes to protect mankind from himself, where will the plant and animals, the ocean, land and air be by then? Will it already have been too late?

Read article in Japan Today/Kyodo News.

The Cove: a critically important documentary available soon on DVD

While on my most recent location assignment, I had the pleasure of being on board and spending time with Simon Hutchins and Greg Mooney, two important members of the Ocean Preservation Society which is one of the key organizations behind the powerful documentary, The Cove.

The Cove, which documents Japan's capture and harvest of dolphins and other marine mammals in a secluded cove in Taiji, is an absolute must-see film not only for the marine conservationist but particularly for the unenlightened as well. As an island nation, Japan has a long-standing cultural dependence on seafood. But with it's growing population (not to mention the rest of the world), that dependence is taking it's toll on a variety of ocean species. The Taiji harvest has become a highly protected event and the filmmakers had to employed clandestine methods to document it.

In addition to the impact of the harvest on dolphin populations, is the important issue of mercury poisoning from consumption of dolphin meat (along with many other pelagic species). The Cove serves as a wake-up call to the Japanese people as to the level of dangerous pollutants they are unknowingly consuming - particularly at risk are children and pregnant women.



The Cove, which is now on the short list for Academy Award consideration, has concluded its theatrical run and will be available on DVD on December 8th. I've mention this film before in previous postings but with the upcoming DVD release, I strongly urge you to get a copy - for yourself, for your friends, for lovers of seafood who need a reality check.

I was glad to have the chance to spend some time with Greg and Simon. Guys, my hat's off to both of you and the rest of the production crew. A truly important and timely film.

WildAid Strategy: mercury poisoning a threat to shark consumers

Over the years, WildAid has focused much of its efforts on raising public awareness to the plight of endangered animals, whether it's tigers, sharks, or elephants. This effort often requires taking the issue directly to the people with advertising, public relations, and celebrity endorsements that often engender the wrath of governments or other official agencies that care not for the bad press and the intrusion of foreigners. Not an easy task.

WildAid is currently focusing their anti-shark finning campaigns on a new angle. Besides making people in China and other Asian countries aware as to the extent of commercial shark fishing and what it means to shark populations and the overall health of the marine ecosystem, WildAid is also pushing to make people aware of the personal threat from consuming shark products.

Many pelagic fish - swordfish, tuna, and particularly cartilaginous fish like sharks - have an ability to retain pollutants in their tissues, pollutants that enter the ocean either directly from coastal pollution or from being discharged into the air from factories and energy plants. Mercury is one of the primary pollutants that have been found in high levels, much higher than what is considered safe.

According to WildAid:
"Steve Trent, president of U.S.-headquartered Wild Aid, said it was important for China, the world's largest consumer of shark fins, to promote public awareness of the protection of this animal which is feared on the verge of extinction.

Eating the fins may also be dangerous, said Trend, who also heads the Wild Aid's London Office. Research shows they contain heavy metals such as mercury, which can cause damage to the nervous system and male infertility."

GotMercury.org lists an 8 oz. portion of shark for person weighing 175 pounds, as having 4 times the weekly allowed amount of mercury, as defined by the EPA. That's 4 weeks worth of mercury in one sitting!

For those who don't care about the fate of sharks or that of other pelagic predators, perhaps knowing that they are also harming themselves might make them think twice. The same self-centeredness that propels them to consume these animals might make them think twice when they are aware of the personal harm to which they are exposed.

Bycatch, Arctic Ice, Methlymercury: still issues to keep an eye on

Seaweb.org recently released some interesting ocean conservation news - a bit of a mixed bag really.

The U.S. has been making some marked improvement in regulating the level of bycatch by commercial fishing operations. Bycatch is a critical issue in ocean conservation as it represents millions of tons of wasted sealife, from the loss of marine mammals, sharks, and turtles in longline nets to the "scorched earth" effect exhibited in shrimp harvesting techniques. Through the application of four different regulatory laws or agencies (the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, and the Endangered Species Act), the level of bycatch is being federally monitored and managed through the use of government observers.

One major issue though is the problem of having four different pieces of regulatory legislation, each with its own focus or emphasis on a particular situation or species. Involving this many cooks makes it difficult to get a more unifying and holistic approach to the entire issue. A recent report issued by Duke University's Marine Laboratory cited an approach by NOAA to establish a single set of regulations in 2006 for the Mid-Atlantic gillnet fisheries that proved to be a promising model and suggests that a review of existing regulations to develop a more cohesive strategy should be undertaken.

I had the opportunity to fly over the Northwest Passage in 2007 and see for myself the shrinking summer sea ice that had reached its lowest level in recorded history that year. As one could expect, there was a lot of alarming news coverage predicting an ice-free Northwest Passage within a few decades. Many computer models predicted the Arctic would lose its summer sea ice by 2080. But according to research by UCLA's Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department, many of those models relied on ice data that reflected a gradual decline, but did not include the data from recent ice levels.

With the growing awareness of the feedback effect of melting ice (exposing more heat-absorbing ocean to sunlight, thereby accelerating the melting process), the department's revised computer models move the clock forward by almost 20 years wherein we will be faced with an Arctic region devoid of most, if not all of its, summer sea ice - a monumental ringing of the alarm bell that global warming is now upon us.

Methylmercury - that dangerous party favor that lies within much of the seafood we consume - must share its host fish with the more beneficial omega-3 fatty acids. Can a risk/benefit analysis determine which seafood would be more or less safe depending on species and frequency of consumption? This was the question that was studied recently and reported in Environmental Health Perspectives. The results of the study were not definitive but suggested that such a matrix could be developed. The report noted that farmed salmon, herring, and trout had a significant higher benefit vs. risk based on levels of methylmercury and omega-3 fatty acids. The opposite was true for swordfish and shark. Flounder and canned light tuna had a small benefit, while canned white tuna and halibut had a small risk.

While the elimination of all methylmercury should be our ongoing focus, such a risk/benefit analysis matrix would be helpful in dealing with current seafood stocks, since methylymercury is retained in the tissues and would be present in many species for some time in the future.

Mercury in Shark Fins: another strategy to move public opinion

On the shark fin soup front, U.S.-based WildAid has been making some progress, working with several Asian environmental NGOs and government agencies. It's a multi-faceted strategy that includes the arguments against the cruelty of shark finning, the shark's inability to counter the drop in its population due to its slow reproductive rate, and the importance of sharks in maintaining an overall healthy marine ecosystem.

These are arguments we have all heard before - or even used ourselves to enlighten others - and it seems to be bearing some fruit, as it continues to get plenty of attention with the Asian press, and several organizations - including a major new resort on Singapore's Sentosa Island - have stricken shark fin soup from the menu.

For those who are unimpressed or oblivious to the cruelty of shark finning and the impact of declining shark populations on marine ecosystems, there is another strategic tact available: alerting them to the impact on their own health.

As is the case with several other pelagic predators, the mercury level in sharks is very high - particularly in the fins as the cellular makeup of the tissue is one that bonds strongly with mercury. A recent test of 10 fin samples taken in Hong Kong showed that 8 samples contained unsafe levels of mercury. Other tests throughout Asia have shown similar results. Using the Mercury Calculator offered by GotMercury.org, even the meat of the shark is exceedingly high in mercury (8 oz. delivers over 4x the amount considered safe by the EPA for a 165 lb. person).

In the body, mercury does not break down, so it accumulates in sharks who feed on contaminated fish over their 20 to 30+ year lifespan. The impact of mercury on children, the unborn, and adults - ranging from mental impairment, deformities, and worse - has been well documented.

Ironic that one of the factors that might protect sharks from our destructive fishing practices is a form of contamination that we ourselves imposed on the sharks. Looks like sharks have the means to bite us back without ever opening their jaws!

To learn more about WildAid's efforts to move public opinion regarding shark products, go to their web site or download their press kit.