Delaware - Record 837-Pound Tuna Also Sets Record For Mercury Toxicity

[hatrack]

Dewey Beach, Del. (AP) - When fisherman Dan Dillon landed an 873-pound bluefin tuna in July, he brought in more than a record-breaking fish. His catch also broke a record for toxicity.

Mercury levels in the fish were 2½ times higher than the threshold the Food and Drug Administration sets for commercial fish before it takes action to remove it from the market, according to Oceana, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the world's oceans.

The mercury also was nearly twice the highest level of mercury ever found by the FDA in fresh or frozen tuna steaks, Oceana said. A sample from the fish was tested at ACZ Laboratories in Steamboat Springs, Colo., said Jackie Savitz, director of Oceana's seafood contamination campaign. Dillon donated the sample for testing.

The angler from Herndon, Va., caught the bluefin 40 miles off the southern Delaware coast, state wildlife officials said. It was 9½ feet long, had a girth of 6½ feet and exceeded Delaware's previous record tuna by more than 500 pounds. It took Dillon more than 1½ hours to subdue the big fish and another two hours to haul it into the boat.

Dillon said officials warned him that mercury could be a problem in a fish that large, so he and his family limited how much they ate. Bluefin tuna are at the top of the food chain and toxins such as mercury can accumulate from the smaller fish they eat.


http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0805/254903.html

Yum!! :9

[phantom power]

1. I was out there the week they caught that tuna.

For some reason, my 17 pound tuna did not make the papers. I wonder how much mercury I ate with my fresh tuna that week?

[dcfirefighter]

2. Heck, I'm out there almost every week.

Bunch of us have a place across from the Starboard. Don't do much fishing though, at least not in the water.

[phantom power]

3. I must say, this sport fishing thing can be a real hoot.

I tried it mostly because my father in law likes to do it. He's got his own 34-foot boat. Now we try to go whenever we're out visiting. Of course, it's a bit less fun on those days when the fish aren't biting :-) None of this would be possible without scopalamine patches. No amount of fun is worth puking my guts out for. :puke:


It's amazing, how hard those fish can fight. We spent 20 minutes landing my teeny little fish. I can't even imagine what it took to land that 800 pound monster.

[NickB79]

4. They ATE some?!?!

I'd stuff it and dump the guts at the nearest toxic waste dump.

[enki23]

5. that's pretty much what you'd expect

.