My 15 year old daughter announced that she is not eating anymore crappie or other fish from Lake Ray Hubbard. Huh? It seems her biology teacher informed the class that Ray Hubbard fish were contaminated with mercury and unsafe to eat. Sure enough, I fried up a batch of crappie tonight and she won't touch it. My wife says "Oh yes, it was on the news and everything" HuhWhat?!! Ray Hubbard is my primary crappie lake, so this is a big deal at my house. We eat a lot of crappie out of there.

OK, I figure I'll get to the bottom of this easy enough so I go to searching the internet. Google, TPWD, TCEQ, all the usual suspects. I found nothing on TPWD mentioning Ray Hubbard. The TCEQ site had some stuff about Hubbard, but it was encrypted such that only a state government employee knowledgeable of TCEQspeak would be able to decode it. I did find one very interesting study being done by some graduate students to check for mercury levels that mentioned Ray Hubbard fish as being some that were tested. Along with the statement that all fish contain some levels of mercury same as we all have some level of it in our own bodies. OK, so they tested some fish from Ray Hubbard but I did not find anything where they released their data yet, or even a hint that there was any problem with the levels they did find. Big fish, top of the food chain predators that live long lives have the highest levels. So I don't eat big bass, or old gars.

Does anyone have any credible evidence I can use to debunk this rumer in my household so we can go back to enjoying our tasty crappie filets?

I have a high suspicion this is a typical kneejerk panic reaction to something taken out of context and then spread around as gospel ("My teacher told us"..., "it was on the news!")
I'd sure like to be able to prove to my family that it is a false alarm if that is in fact the case.

<edit> Here's the link to the study the grad students are doing. http://www.magazine.tcu.edu/articles/2005-02-CV.asp

Thanks,

Jon

well, there was post some where on here how to tell if they float to the surface while cooking them. just spent15 mins looking i dont see it. it may be bs but if it gets your daughter wife and other kids to eat it then, whats a little white lie. or contact some science center ask for ways of testing mercury

When the swordfish mercury scare was going I lived in Kansas and was hunting with a Med. Doctor. He told me, inorder to notice any effects from the mercury from the swordfish you would need to eat that fish three meals a day for 365 days.

I wonder what chapter of PETA her teacher belongs to....

I have eaten loads of fish from Hubbard, no problem here. Remember the "news" about Tawakoni a few years ago? Some kind of spill threatened the Dallas water supply and now all the fish were gonna glow in the dark, or somesuch malarky. don't ya think if the "problem" was real, EVERYONE!!! would be up in arms about it? Its one of the major water suppliers for several area cities around....make the teacher show their proof!!

My BS meter just went off...

Crappie are such a short lived fish, it would suprise me if they were affected by any heavy metal poisoning. They live maybe 7 years. Now LMG, Stripers, and Catfish live 15+ years. If any fish were to be found to have mercury, I would think it would be these guys.

I think the biology teacher was a crappie fisherman on Hubbard and just wanted a few less fishermen on the lake.

The fat in fried crappie will kill you long before the mercury does.

Thanks for the responces guys.

Jerrybign, PETA, Ha! that was my EXACT thought the instant my daughter first told me about this teacher. Yeah I remember the flap about the MTBE leak or whatever it was in Tawakoni.

Steve-O - I should clarify, her teacher said "fish in Ray Hubbard have mercury in them and are unsafe to eat" She didn't name crappie specifically, but that is about the only fish we eat at my house. Daughter heard the teacher say "fish" and to her mind that included the crappie we've been eating. I'm like you, and find it hard to believe that short-lived as they are they could build up a dangerous level.

What I'm looking for is some actual published evidence by some scientific sources that will set the record straight about this.

Here is the site for the TX Dept of Health. It has all the advisories and warnings for bodies of water in Texas. If the fish are unsafe to eat at Hubbard it would be listed here.


http://www.tdh.state.tx.us/bfds/ssd/

The teacher is correct. There is mercury in the fish in Ray Hubbard. Don't eat anymore fish out this lake. Please catch and release.


barndoor

Better my buddy -DIP-O- Snuff & I will have conveniently located coolers full of ice at various designated locations around the lake for you to discard your fish -legal keepers-
We will then proceed to do the redneck taste test for months writting a full report!!!!!


I have been eating crappie out of there for a few years now with no extra toes or zombie like behaviour-- well my wife might disagree there!!!!