PERU fishing with guts to report…
Mercury concentrations in the Yellow Fin Tuna Hawaii are increasing at a rate of 3.8% or more per year due to higher levels of this toxic substance in the atmosphere, a new study from the University of Michigan.
Mercury is a toxic metal that can accumulate in high concentrations in fish, which represents a risk to the health of people who consume large predatory marine fish such as tuna and sword fish. In the open ocean, the main source is atmospheric mercury from human activities, in particular emissions from coal power plants and artisanal gold mining.
For decades, scientists are forecasting an increase in the levels of mercury in fish High Sea as a result of increased atmospheric concentrations, but has been difficult to find evidence to support this hypothesis. In fact, some studies have suggested that there has been no change in the concentration of mercury in the fish de Mar.
When compiling and reanalyzed previously published three reports on Yellowfin Tuna caught near Hawaii, Paul Drevnick and two colleagues found that the mercury concentration in this species increased at least 3.8% per year from 1998-2008.
The results of this study will be published this week in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. The other authors are Carl Lamborg, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, now at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Martin Horgan.
“The main point is that mercury in tuna appears to be increasing at the same rate that data and model predictions for concentrations of mercury in the water in the North Pacific”Says Drevnick, Scientific research assistant at the Faculty of Natural Resources and Environment and the UM Biological Station. “This study confirms that mercury levels in fish from the open sea are sensitive to mercury emissions.”
Drevnick and colleagues re-evaluated data from three studies that sampled from the same population of Yellowfin Tuna near Hawaii in 1971, 1998 and 2008. In each of the three studies analyzed the mercury present in muscle tissue and was determined to be present in their toxic organic form, as methylmercury.
In the new research, Drevnick and his colleagues included yellowfin tunas between 48 and 167 pounds fin and used a computer model that controls the effect of body size of the fish. They evaluated data from 229 fish: 111 1971 104 1998 14 2008.
The researchers found that mercury concentrations in this species were equal on data from 1971 and 1998. However, concentrations were higher in 2008 than in 1971 or 1998. Between 1998 and 2008, the concentration of mercury in tuna Yellowfin increased at a rate greater than or equal to 3.8% per year, according to the new study.
“Mercury levels are increasing in all oceans of the world and our study is the first to demonstrate the resulting increase in mercury in fish open water”Stresses Drevick. “Stricter policies are needed to reduce mercury emissions in the atmosphere. If current deposition rates are maintained, the amount of mercury will double in the waters of the North Pacific by 2050.”
Yellow Fin Tuna, often marketed as ahi, is widely used in dishes made with raw fish-especially for sashimi or grilled. The guide Defense Council Natural Resources Mercury in Tuna Sushi considers Yellowfin as a species “high mercury content”.
Research by Drevick and colleagues was supported by the University of Michigan, the Research Fund for Nature and Technology Quebec, the National Science Foundation and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
SOURCE: Fis.com
