PORTLAND (AP) — A lack of communication among state, federal and independent researchers prevented data pointing to elevated mercury in lobsters at the mouth of the Penobscot River from being shared sooner, according to a newspaper report.
State and federal officials in agencies charged with protecting public health were only partially aware of independent studies examining mercury contamination at the mouth of the Penobscot River, the Maine Sunday Telegram reported. The Maine Department of Marine Resources closed the river to lobster and crab fishing last month as a precaution.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were conducting their own set of studies while a panel of scientists was conducting a federally mandated study resulting from a lawsuit against the former HoltraChem Manufacturing Co. plant in Orrington, which is blamed for dumping tons of mercury into the river.
While the independent scientists shared some details of their research, including high levels of mercury in lobsters in 2006, it was years before information that could have led to action became available to the Department of Marine Resources.
Lobster in the closed area have levels of mercury similar to those found in a can of tuna, but state officials worry that without the closure, recreational fishermen who regularly set traps there would consume unsafe amounts of lobster. The 7-square-mile area is a tiny portion of the 14,000 square miles where lobster is caught in Maine.
The river was closed after the federally mandated study was completed and made available to the state, Maine officials have said.
But study panel made findings in 2008 and 2009 that might have prompted the commission to act sooner, the newspaper reported. Those phases of the study showed levels of mercury in the tails and claws of lobster that would merit a consumption advisory based on government thresholds.
But the state chose to await the results of its own study conducted with the EPA, which used a different sampling methodology and ultimately contradicted the findings of the study panel, showing lower amounts of mercury.
While the study panel alerted the state in 2011 to much higher levels of mercury in black ducks, it did not reach out to disclose details of lobster or crab contamination until 2013, state toxicologist Andrew Smith said.
“My first involvement with the mercury data was in 2011, when we had black duck data coming at us,” Smith told the newspaper. “Nothing about lobster at that time.”
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