fisheries have made significant progress toward ending overfishing and rebuilding depleted populations under federal fisheries law, some fish (such as Atlantic cod) are still in trouble. Better to stick with what's caught closer to home. Food and Drug Administration only inspects about 2 percent of all seafood that comes from abroad. Increasingly, the seafood we import isn’t wild-caught but farm-raised overseas, often in factory farm–like conditions where the fish are exposed to dangerous antibiotics and chemicals (many of which are banned in the United States), stored in bacteria-laden ice, and even fed pig feces tainted with Salmonella. (These issues aren’t exclusive to foreign fisheries, of course.) Other problems include bycatch-the unintentional capture of other marine species such as dolphins and sea turtles in fishing nets-as well as destructive harvesting methods like bottom trawling and illegal operations that can cost legal fisheries billions every year. Without enforceable catch limits, many species have become exploited and overfished. People in the United States consume close to five billion pounds of seafood every year, and 90 percent of it comes from countries that lack rigorous management laws, like China and Vietnam. View the equations we used to make these serving recommendations. Environmental Protection Agency, which determines mercury levels that it considers safe for women of childbearing age. Food and Drug Administration, which tests fish for mercury, and the U.S. Note: The data for this guide to mercury in fish comes from two federal agencies: the U.S. This handy chart helps you figure out which fish are safer to eat than others when it comes to avoiding mercury. So when a tuna eats a bunch of anchovies, the tuna is accumulating the mercury of those anchovies into its own body. Why's that? Because when bigger fish eat smaller ones, the predators also absorb their prey's contamination in a process known as biomagnification. As a general rule, smaller fish-think squid, scallops, sardines-contain less mercury than larger varieties like tuna and swordfish, which are higher up the food chain. It’s especially threatening to pregnant women and young children. Mercury is a dangerous neurotoxin that can disrupt brain function and harm the nervous system. Here are six important things to consider when shopping for seafood. As the sustainable-food movement flourishes, consumers are developing a keener awareness of the fish they eat and demanding more information about its origins-and its hazards.
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