Methylmercury in Marine Fish: A Gulf-Wide Initiative
Mr. Ron Lukens
Gulf States marine Fisheries Commission

The Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, during its Annual Fall Meeting in October 2001, began an initiative to investigate the need for a Gulf-wide survey to collect fish tissue for analysis of mercury content, and to determine the need for convening appropriate federal and state agency and industry representatives to discuss developing compatible fish consumption advisory levels and advisory language.

A report was provided to the Commission during its Annual Spring Meeting in March 2002. That report provide the Commissioners with background information on sources of mercury, biological processes and implications, public health concerns, and federal and state actions regarding mercury in fish. That report also contains seven recommendations, listed below, which were presented to the Commissioners.

1. The Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, in cooperation with the appropriate state and federal agencies, should encourage and facilitate the development of a Gulf-wide survey to collect fish tissue for mercury analysis. The survey should collect tissue from species commonly consumed by the public from commercial sources and caught and consumed by recreational anglers, and
2. The Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, in cooperation with the appropriate state and federal agencies, should encourage and facilitate the establishment of sufficient capacity for timely analysis of mercury tissue samples collected by the Gulf-wide survey,
3. The Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission should work with the Gulf of Mexico Program, administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to facilitate convening appropriate state and federal agency representatives to consider establishing consistent seafood consumption advisories and establishing common advisory levels for mercury in fish tissue, and
4. The Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, in cooperation with the appropriate state and federal agencies, should encourage and facilitate the development of an education and outreach strategy, including the development of new, and more effective education and outreach materials, to educate the general public about the risks associated with consumption of seafood that may be contaminated with mercury,
5. The Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, in cooperation with the appropriate state and federal agencies, should encourage and facilitate the development of a fish consumption survey of recreational anglers,
6. The Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, in cooperation with the appropriate state and federal agencies, should encourage and facilitate the establishment of a common, centralized database on mercury in marine fish tissue, and
7. Recognizing that methylmercury contamination of fish tissue is not confined to the Gulf of Mexico region, the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission should encourage similar initiatives as embodied in this report for the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts.

The Commissioners tabled definitive action on the report, pending additional staff work to develop more detail for the recommendations. Included will be appropriate agency roles, effort involved, and associated costs if the recommendations were to be implemented. The Commission staff and the Steering Committee are currently compiling the necessary information regarding each recommendation and will be providing the information to the Commissioners at the Annual Fall Meeting in October 2002.

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