At one time, I saw, a warning about mercury in Texas fish I think that it was a TPW article on the different bodies where there was a higher levels of mercury. Any info on this is appreciated. capt david

Mercury and other heavy metals have been found in several bodies of water.Go to the TPW website and look up consumption bans for which rivers and lakes are involved.

Very prevailent from coal burning power plants and in some of our inshore fisheries.

From my understanding its basically in all bodies of water, mainly from coal burning power plants.

This may help.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/regulations/fish_hunt/fish/consumption_bans.phtml

It is in all bodies of water, some higher than others. Also notice the difference between what the EPA says is a safe level and the state of Texas. EPA warns anything over 300 ppb, while Texas says 700. We have a few fish advisories based upon being higher than 700, however there would be a majority of our lakes under advisories if we used the EPA's level of 300. As a general rule East TX lakes surrounding by forested regions have higher levels, but there are exceptions to this.

Mercury is an element emitted globally from both natural and man-made sources. As an element,
mercury cannot be created or destroyed. There are three primary forms of mercury found in the
environment: (1) elemental (quicksilver); (2) divalent (oxidized or �reactive� mercury); and (3)
organic (methylmercury). Elemental mercury is stable and can remain in the atmosphere between
six months and two years, during which time it can be globally distributed. In the atmosphere,
elemental mercury can be converted to the divalent form that can attach to solid particles
(�particle-bound� mercury, subject to dry and wet deposition) or aqueous droplets (subject to wet
deposition) and can be deposited on the ground and the surface of water bodies. Once divalent
mercury enters a water body, it can undergo chemical conversion to methylmercury, which is
retained in fish tissue and is the only form of mercury that accumulates in aquatic food webs.
Fish consumption is the primary source of methylmercury exposure in humans.
Human activity since the Industrial Revolution has increased the amount of mercury present
globally in the atmosphere. About half of global mercury emissions are natural�from oceans,
erosion, vegetation, vegetation burning, and volcanoes�while slightly less than half of mercury
emissions are the result of man-made sources. About three percent of total global mercury emissions originate from man-made sources in the U.S., with approximately one percent of the
global total from U.S. power plants. Asia contributes about half of the global emissions of mercury from man-made sources, while the U.S. contributes about six percent of emissions from
man-made sources.


This from the most worthless state agency ever. The TECQ.