In general, when concerned about mercury content, you should choose high-fat fish with a shorter life span like salmon. I have broken down some factors to take into consideration below.
- Fat content is inversely correlated with mercury content, so fattier fish are typically much lower in mercury content. Copper River King salmon have the highest fat content, followed by Copper River sockeye and coho. Copper River salmon are typically higher in fat than other wild salmon species. Black Cod, aka sablefish, is also very high in fat.
- Life span Fish with a shorter lifespan are a good choice because they have accumulated less mercury in their system over time. Salmon have a short life-span of 4-5 years, compared to halibut with a lifespan of 25-50 years. Sablefish have a medium lifespan.
- Size Smaller fish, such as scallops, sardines, and shrimp, contain less mercury than larger fish, such as bigeye tuna and swordfish. Salmon and sablefish are medium size. Older Halibut can be very large in size, but we only use the smaller halibut for Sena Sea because they are lower in mercury (and taste better).
- Location Alaskan fish, particularly wild Alaskan salmon, is known for having very low levels of mercury. Alaska state health officials have not found any cases of unsafe mercury exposures resulting from the consumption of Alaskan fish. Alaska health
Overall, Alaskan salmon is a very good choice because of the high fat content and short lifespan. Sablefish is also a good choice, but has a longer lifespan. Halibut consumption could be limited because it is lean, big and has a long lifespan. However, we do choose smaller, younger halibut for Sena Sea for this reason.
