Mercury tests on Christchurch fishafter four-year lapse

Press, 27 August 1977, Page 1

Mercury tests on Christchurch fishafter four-year lapse

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GLENN HASZARD

Christchurch fish will be put to the mercury test by the Health Department next week — for the first time in four years — it was revealed by the supervising health inspector with the department (Mr C. 11. Edwards) yesterday.

The decision comes after the revelation that shark sold in Auckland contained more than the 0.5 parts per million of mercury allowed under the Food and Drug Regulations of 1973. The Auckland discovery led to an urgent question to the Minister of Health (Mr Gill) from Mr A. G. Malcolm (Nat., Eden) this week. The Press Association reports that Mr Gill replied that the department would prosecute anyone caught selling fish containing excess mercury. The flesh of big sharks, sold as lemon fish, is said to be the most dangerous. Mercury is found in minute quantities in many foods, but is more concen-

trated in the flesh of fish, especially older and bigger fish. Mr Gill said that the department constantly monitored fish sales. Reports indicated that, in general, the mercury level was not exceeded, and breaches were confined to Auckland. But according to Mr Edwards, the last time a sample was taken in Christchurch was four years ago, when evidence was found of mercury in fish above the permitted level. No prosecution was brought. The penalty for a breach of the regulations is a fine of up to S2OO. However, the president of the Christchurch Fish Retailers Association (Mr

B. Mather) said last evening that to his knowledge the last test done by the Health Department in Christchurch had proved negative. He said there was no problem with mercury in the South Island. School sharks were not fished off the South Island. The fish most commonly sold in Christchurch shops was bream, which was even exported to Australia. Bream was also used for fish and chips. There was little chance of Christchurch customers buying North Island shark in Christchurch shops. More fish went from the South Island to the North than vice-versa, he said. When asked whether shark was obtainable on

the Christchurch market, Mr Mather said that there were four or five species available, but he stressed that there was no worry about mercury with them. He said that the North Island lemon fish was grey shark, while lemon fish sold in Christchurch was from the small rig shark. Mercury levels above the legal limit did not mean that fish of the same species from different areas had similar levels, said Mr Mather. The news media had whipped up the story about mercury. “There’s more mercury in coffee than in fish.” he said. Some Auckland fish shops have suffered a sharp drop in trade as a result of the mercury scare there this week. The drop comes at a time when fish is in short supply. Other fish retailers — and most fish and chip shops — say sales have remained normal, however. When Mr Edwards was asked why the Christchurch office had not taken samples in the last four years, he said that his officers had been too busy attending to higher priority matters. “ft wasn’t recognised as a matter requiring urgent attention,” he said. “We usually get notification from head office of matters of priority, but this certainly has never been one,” he said. A report by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries last year revealed that mercury levels in New Zealand snapper, a popular table fish, averaged 0.25 p.p.m. — half the permissible level. The report said that the mercury came almost entirely from natural sources, rather than from industrial pollution. A D.S.I.R. report in 1972 showed that mercury levels in school shark samples averaged 2.59 p.p.m., and in rig shark 1.13 p.p.m., but in 17 other common species of fish the level was below 0.5 p.p.m. New Zealand’s permitted level of 0.5 p.p.m. is one of the more stringent of standards in the world, along with Australia and the United States. Most other countries have a permitted level of 1.0 p.p.m.; a standard which Dr J. Sumner, lecturer in food technology at Lincoln College, has suggested should also be applied in New Zealand. New Zealanders also eat less fish than the inhabitants of other maritime countries, such as Japan, where the per capita fish consumption is 12 times greater than New Zealand’s.