Alabama - don't eat the fish

The only good thing is LMB are better for catching than eating. Never tried to eat one.

My understanding the mercury is global thing, gets into the atmosphere mostly from coal burning and then comes down eventually. I wish there could be more effort to fix it.

 

More local/regional than global, but the coal burning is correct.
Basic Information about Mercury | Mercury | US EPA

"In the United States, power plants that burn coal to create electricity are the largest source of emissions; they account for about 44 percent of all manmade mercury emissions."

 

It settles out pretty quickly. So do other things going up a the smokestack, which is why living within 50 miles of a coal plant exposes a person to more radiation than living within 50 of nuclear plant.

The widespread issue is that the mercury gets washed into waterways, where it works it way to the ocean. Making sealife toxic to eat might be the only way we save them.

 

Yes but that is not saying that 44% comes down on USA, per se.
They are saying where it is generated in the USA.

Yeah but we are talking mercury chemistry not radioactivity.

 

True, but this type of air pollution settles out pretty close to where its emitted. In practice, that means its mostly coming down on the ol' U.S. of A (except for a small bit that may settle out in Canada or Mexico).

 

The radioactivity from coal plants is caused by active elements that go up the smoke stack. They, like mercury, are on the heavy side, so they drop out of the air quickly.

 

over half century ago all the kids played w/ mercury - shined pennies - rolled it around in the palm of hands etc. My dad had a clear plastic tube of it .... like what coin collectors might put a roll of quarters in. 1/2 full of mercury. maybe messing around w/ it explains a lot.

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I thought Alabama threw their fish instead of eating them.

Meh, I'm an avowed lover of seafood and I gave up on Gulf-of-Mexico sourced stuff 10 years ago, along with rice from anywhere touching the Mississippi.

 

I was surprised by the EPA article saying how much mercury is still used.
I am thinking about 50% of mercury deposition in the USA is from USA sources, and 50% is just background from other global sources (coal burning etc).

 

ratioanle? arsenic in rice?

 

Pretty much. I understand you can flush a lot off with a good pre-cook rinse, but sometimes it's easier just to buy the pakistan-grown stuff.

I did notice that the price of California-grown rice went nuts around the time they started measuring the arsenic problem in AR/LA/TX crops.

 

OK what about the GoM fishery? Mercury there? We have some family moved to the Tampa area so we may get a chance to go there.

 

Oh, the seafood? I just figured I'd let the results of the Macondo spill bio-accumulate in other people for a couple decades. Eventually it'll be good again, as long as I don't eat those people.

 

Assuming the sealife hasn't all been eaten by then.

 

Those shrimps/crayfish always looked a little shakey to me anyways. Never acquired the taste though we were busted flat in Baton Rouge for a few years.

 

@wjtracy People flinch at eating crickets and tear into a lobster roll or shrimp cocktail. About the only crusties I still eat are Alaskan crabs, but I used to eat lots of others when I thought I could reliably get clean produce.

I got pickier just as the supply got scarce.

 

I'd be willing to try land shrimp.