Mercury Biomagnification

Mercury in fish is a huge health threat to anyone, but people who rely upon fish for their main source of protein nearly everyday, not eating fish simply isn't an option. The image shows the increasing levels of mercury as the food chain moves up. As can be noted, the larger the fish, the more mercury it will have accumulated in its body. The same is true for the age of the fish. They call this biomagnification.







While not eating the fish is so far the best strategy that has been made to counter the levels of mercury, this is not a viable option for everyone. There are many who, although they have access to grocery stores and other food markets, depend massively upon the food that they can gather and prepare themselves. For people who live near water, fish becomes an enormous staple in their diet. With the new knowledge of biomagnification and its health detriments, the general public has been told the safe levels of fish to eat per week. While most people are used to not relying upon fish for a lot of meals, this advice is very easy to follow, but those who consume fish daily do not have many other options available. Even with the knowledge of biomagnification, many people who relied on fish before decide to still do so now.

Telling people to not eat fish is not a solution to the problem of mercury. Instead more research must be done to determine ways to reduce the total levels of mercury entering the water, as well as a way to remove the already present mercury.

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