Thread: king mackerel

If kings have such high mercury content, why does everyone eat them?

not everyone does....the smaller better eating don't have as much....the bigger do and with anything moderation ....they do make a good mac salad

Oh okay thank you!

That's a good question that I suspect #r or one of the other icthyologiclally learned types will properly address. HOWEVER, my understanding is that it is only the larger ones that contain toxic levels. I suspect the reason for this is that the FDA has set safe levels at <1.00 ppm. One article I read on Wiki said the AVERAGE Mackerel contamination is 0.73 ppm. Thus, common sense would say that if half the fish contain > 0.73 ppm and half that are below that mark, then "probably" it is only the bigger fish that have had sufficient time to accumulate toxic level. What is the cuttoff size? Beats the &@$? out of me. Even at that, the warning is primarily for preganant and nursing women and children. Given those "facts", I personally don't keep one above 11-12 lbs and prefer smaller, if of legal length. :fishing:

[img width=480 height=320]http://i.qkme.me/3smnds.jpg[/img]

This is a 'good read' on the subject...
http://www.southeasternfish.org/Seaf...0of%20View.pdf

:run

According to that, if you stick with <27"' you're ok - which pretty much coincides with my personal preference for <~13/14 lbs

I think the mercury scare is absolute garbage. Where is the evidence of people eating king mackerel and showing some kind of symptom? I think the guidelines underestimate how much mercury it takes to harm most people and do not give enough credit to the body's ability to get rid of the mercury over time.

Give me fish over soda, sweet tea, or french fries any day.

Its not a "scare", it's an advisory. If you chose to take a 30 pound king home & feed it your pregnant wife and kids, that is your choice to make.

Not me. I personally don't like the big ones anyway. And when there are so many other fish that don't have any mercury issues, such as specs, Spanish macs, sheepshead, whiting, etc.., why take chances?

That said, while we know the long term impacts of chronic mercury exposure (go here to see a real life example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamata_disease), I don't think the health researchers can really say what the effects of eating say one meal a month is. But once again, when there are so many other fish that don't have issues, its an easy "chance" to avoid.

So if you do not eat or should not eat the larger fish ,what do you do with them ? If you give them away you are in effect subjecting the other person to the mercury .