Johnston described the mercury issue as a two-edged sword.

''It's a responsibility for us to make humans aware there's a hazard,'' she said. ''But we don't want to start a scare either.''

So far, Johnston said, mercury contamination has not been an issue for tourism officials. It may never become one in Maine, she said, because mercury has been found all over the globe.

Still, there is an image at stake. Others in the tourism industry are keenly aware of how the public responds to Maine's fish consumption advisories.

''Those kind of warnings, however necessary, don't fit into the kind of image we're trying to project,'' said Dan Billings, spokesman for the Maine Campground Owners Association.

''The highway signs say 'Welcome to Vacationland,' '' said Dan Kusnierz, a biologist at the Penobscot Indian Nation. ''To see fish consumption warnings posted all over the place, that's not a very good message.''

Ray Anderson, a lifelong fisherman from Vienna, said anglers will turn away from Maine if the mercury problem worsens and government doesn't stand up to polluters.

''These bigwigs in industry, all they can think about is the immediate buck,'' he said. ''But that's not all there is to it. People just don't seem to realize how much money sportsmen put into the economy.''

State officials say there has been no effort to downplay the mercury problem because of economic factors. If the state's fish consumption advisories are little known, as a recent poll suggests, that wasn't the intent, they say.

At the Department of Environmental Protection, Commissioner Edward O. Sullivan said other state agencies are strongly supporting efforts to get the word out about mercury levels, and to reduce mercury levels in the environment.

''I really think there's an across-the-board commitment,'' he said.

Back at the Kittery information center, the fall crop of visitors is passing through.

One morning last week, eight fishermen were lined up to buy non-resident licenses when Huebner, the staff member, arrived for work.

As part of its public education program on mercury, the state planned to have up-to-date copies of the fish consumption warnings available for distribution at the center. The visiting fishermen could have been handed those warnings on the spot.

But Huebner said they never arrived.