Mercury in Fish still a problem in Sweden
Although, the fallout of mercury in Nature has decreased the last ten years, the levels in fish still increases. Swedish researchers have done a study of more than 2000 lakes since the 1960’s. The level in fish in general is now 3 to 5 times the natural background level.
The mercury fallout from air in Sweden mostly come from combustion processes in other European countries and is still of the size, although lowered, that the levels of mercury in the ground still increases and leaks out from the ground to the water. To stop this process the meercury fallout from the air must be cut down with 80 % from today’s figures, according to the scientists.
The climate change and changes in the processes which steer how much mercury that is emitted from the ground to the lakes and the uptake of the fish are other reasons for the problem with high levels of mercury in fish in Sweden. It’s a rather complex heavy metal process to understand and the measures are not still enough to stop the problem from escalating. During all these years since the problem was found one would have wished that effective measures could have been undertaken.