Syracuse.com - Great Lakes mercury contamination more widespread, harmful than previously known

[HuntingNY-News]

The six species of fish most contaminated with mercury in the region’s inland waters are smallmouth and largemouth bass, northern pike, walleye, northern pike, muskellunge and lake trout.

Mark Weiner, this newspaper's Washington correspondent wrote an interesting story about mercury contamination in the Great Lakes.

The most comprehensive study of mercury in the Great Lakes region found widespread contamination that harms fish and wildlife at a rate much greater than previously recognized, an international panel of scientists said today.

The three-year project concluded that six of 15 fish species common to the region have average mercury concentrations that are unsafe for human or wildlife consumption.

“We found very widespread contamination in this large area,” said Syracuse University scientist Charles T. Driscoll, a nationally recognized expert on mercury pollution who helped lead a team of more than 170 scientists involved in the study.

The six species of fish most contaminated with mercury in the region’s inland waters are smallmouth and largemouth bass, northern pike, walleye, northern pike, muskellunge and lake trout, Driscoll said.

Read the whole story.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog