fish

By Chris Holbein

The humble Asian carp is causing big trouble in the U.S.

Last month, the Supreme Court refused Michigan’s request to order the immediate closure of shipping locks near Chicago to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. For decades, the carp have been steadily making their way up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers toward Lake Michigan. In December, Illinois officials dumped poison into a shipping canal—killing tens of thousands of fish—to stop the carp’s progress. A single Asian carp was found after the kill. Click to continue »

By Paula Moore

If your hair is thinning and you can’t remember where you left the car keys, last night’s fish fillets just might be to blame. According to a new study released by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), over a seven-year period, scientists found mercury in every single fish they tested from streams across the country.

This study should put to rest once and for all the old fish story that fish is a “health food.”

From 1998 to 2005, USGS scientists tested more than a thousand fish collected from nearly 300 streams nationwide. All the fish were contaminated with mercury, and more than a quarter of them—27 percent—had mercury levels that exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s safety limits for the average fish-eater. Numerous other studies have also found worrisome levels of mercury and other contaminants in farmed fish and lake and ocean fish, including tuna and swordfish. Click to continue »