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SYNOPTIC SURVEY OF TOTAL MERCURY IN RECREATIONAL FINFISH OF THE GULF OF MEXICO
Impact/Purpose:
After the completion of the Synoptic Survey, the data should allow for the Gulf State Marine Fisheries Commission (GSMFC), the Gulf of Mexico Program (GMP) and other federal and state agencies to evaluate the need for monitoring selected species and for refining the data on selected species (i.e., better size vs. mercury modeling) and to set the proper consumption advisories.
Description:
In association with the Gulf of Mexico Program (GMP) and the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission (GSMFC), the National Seafood Inspection Laboratory (NSIL) will design a synoptic survey to determine the mercury (Hg) concentration in selected Gulf of Mexico fisheries species. NSIL will perform approx. 2,500 total mercury analyses in recreational finfish species from the Gulf of Mexico via use of direct mercury analyzer. NISL will carry out statistics and generate report of findings for use by the GSMFC, the GMP and the five Gulf States in identifying: high risk species that require additional analyses; species requiring long term monitoring; and species requiring the State's to issue consumption advisories. The intent of this synoptic survey is to quickly provide data on a range of species for which either little or no mercury data exist, and/or to confirm previously collected data on the known high risk species. The data would be robust enough to support the generation of confidence intervals and size vs. mercury content modeling for selected species.