IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v10y2013i2p638-659d23443.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Influence of Fish Length on Tissue Mercury Dynamics: Implications for Natural Resource Management and Human Health Risk

Author

Listed:
  • Dana K. Sackett

    (Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii, 1000 Pope Rd, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA)

  • W. Gregory Cope

    (Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, North Carolina State University, Box 7633, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA)

  • James A. Rice

    (Department of Biology, North Carolina State University, Box 7617, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA)

  • D. Derek Aday

    (Department of Biology, North Carolina State University, Box 7617, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA)

Abstract

Consumption of fish has well-known human health benefits, though some fish may contain elevated levels of mercury (Hg) that are especially harmful to developing children. Fish length is most often the basis for establishing fishery harvest regulations that determine which fish will ultimately be consumed by humans. It is, therefore, essential to quantify the relationship between fish length and Hg accumulation in regard to harvest regulations for effective fishery and public health policy. We examined this relationship for three sportfish from six lakes across North Carolina, USA. Bluegill ( Lepomis macrochirus ) had the lowest Hg levels and only the very largest fish in the most contaminated site exceeded the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Hg screening level. Black crappie ( Pomoxis nigromaculatus ) had an intermediate level of Hg and larger individuals exceeded the USEPA screening level; however, they tended not to exceed this level before reaching the harvest length limit. Largemouth bass ( Micropterus salmoides ) exceeded the USEPA screening level at sizes below the fishery length limit in two lakes, leaving only higher risk fish for anglers to harvest and consume. Removing the effects of fish age and trophic position, we found strong positive correlations between Hg and fish length for largemouth bass and black crappie. We suggest public health officials and wildlife managers collaborate to structure fishery regulations and length-based fish consumption advisories that protect consumers from Hg exposure and communicate the relative risk of fish consumption.

Suggested Citation

  • Dana K. Sackett & W. Gregory Cope & James A. Rice & D. Derek Aday, 2013. "The Influence of Fish Length on Tissue Mercury Dynamics: Implications for Natural Resource Management and Human Health Risk," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-22, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:10:y:2013:i:2:p:638-659:d:23443
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/2/638/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/2/638/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Beric M. Gilbert & Ebrahim Hussain & Franz Jirsa & Annemariè Avenant-Oldewage, 2017. "Evaluation of Trace Element and Metal Accumulation and Edibility Risk Associated with Consumption of Labeo umbratus from the Vaal Dam, South Africa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-15, June.
    2. Victor Lacerda Moura & Luiz Drude de Lacerda, 2022. "Mercury Sources, Emissions, Distribution and Bioavailability along an Estuarine Gradient under Semiarid Conditions in Northeast Brazil," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-16, December.
    3. Jun Li & Xiongyi Miao & Yupei Hao & Zhouqing Xie & Shengzheng Zou & Changsong Zhou, 2020. "Health Risk Assessment of Metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, Cd, As, Hg, Se) in Angling Fish with Different Lengths Collected from Liuzhou, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-16, March.
    4. Tara K. B. Johnson & Catherine E. LePrevost & Thomas J. Kwak & W. Gregory Cope, 2018. "Selenium, Mercury, and Their Molar Ratio in Sportfish from Drinking Water Reservoirs," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-17, August.
    5. Hannah I. Hoffman & Walter G. Bradley & Celia Y. Chen & Erik P. Pioro & Elijah W. Stommel & Angeline S. Andrew, 2021. "Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Risk, Family Income, and Fish Consumption Estimates of Mercury and Omega-3 PUFAs in the United States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-10, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:10:y:2013:i:2:p:638-659:d:23443. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.