# Farm Raised Fish and Mercury



## janetGood (Apr 25, 2005)

Does anyone happen to know if Farm raised fish is lower in Mercury? or do the fish farms get their water from the same sources and just pump it into the fish tanks?
I have little kids and want to do some more with sea food but I don't want the Mercury so i thought farm raised fish would be better. Thanks Janet


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## jennyema (Apr 25, 2005)

Farmed salmon is supposedly much higher in toxins than wild salmon. But it is PCBs and Dioxin that, as far as I know, are the major contaminants. PCBs and Dioxin are obviously just as bad as mercury for you. There are claims that other farmed fish can be contaminated because of the water that is used.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=farmed+fish+contaminant

Fish that are oily, like tuna, swordfish, bluefish, generally have a higher mercury level than other fish.

http://heartdisease.about.com/cs/riskfactors/a/fishmercury.htm

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=farmed+fish+contaminant

So maybe the best thing to do is identify the WILD species of fish that generally contain the lowest level of contaminants and serve them instead. Usually they are the milder white fishes that kids are more likely to eat anyway.


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## janetGood (Apr 25, 2005)

Thanks for the links and info I will study it


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## licia (Apr 25, 2005)

One thing I've wondered about is the probability of all types of poisons drifting in water from planes that spray crops, runoff from some of those farms, etc.  Seems like there are so many reasons to pray over our food these days. We never know what problem will crop up next.


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