Mercury is a naturally-occurring toxic trace element which has a complex cycle between the Earth’s crust, atmosphere and oceans. Some mercury is released by natural processes but the predominant emissions to the atmosphere result from human activities, principally mining & smelting of mineral ores, combustion of fossil fuels, & use of mercury itself. Today these human activities liberate mercury from its geological sinks into the free environment at a rate 5 to 6 times higher than in the pre-Industrial era. Mercury thereby released can travel long distances through atmosphere, ultimately depositing from the air to our watersheds and wetlands.

Mercury deposited in wetlands, lakes and streams can be converted by natural bacteria into methylmercury, a toxic form that is accumulated and biomagnified at each link in the food chain. In some circumstances, the result is sport fish that would be toxic if eaten by humans and prey fish that may be toxic to wildlife that eat them.

This effect is particularly acute in the marshes of the Florida Everglades, where largemouth bass once had fish with 6 times the level of mercury safe for human consumption and wading birds are ingested amounts of mercury close to levels that could reduce their populations.

Substantial progress has been made in alleviating the mercury problem in south Florida. Human caused mercury emissions from industrial sources in south Florida, principally incinerators, have come under effective control during the past decade; emissions of mercury in south Florida have declined by 90%. Subsequently, mercury in Fish and wildlife of the Everglades has declined by about 75% to date. However, despite these encouraging results, mercury levels in fish and wildlife of the region remain excessive. In 2003 US EPA promulgated nationwide mercury standards for our nation’s waterbodies; the Florida Everglades remains above acceptable limits.

A private - public partnership led by Florida DEP investigates ways to alleviate this problem. A consortium of electric utility interests, federal and state agencies is collaborating in the South Florida Mercury Science Program or SFMSP. SFMSP Managers meet regularly to apportion research responsibilities, correlate funding requests and share scientific results on Everglades mercury issues. While the SFMSP is focused on the Everglades and South Florida, virtually all of its work has statewide and national application.

This site describes SFMSP strategies, plans activities and results. Links are given to the mercury related web sites of SFMSP participants and to other useful web sites dealing with mercury.

Table of Contents

SFMSP - Table of Contents

• Effects Assessment for Mercury in Fish-eating Birds: Setting an Avian Wildlife Criterion. Peer Reviewers' Reports of workshop held October 6-7, 1999, at River Ranch, Florida  (PDF, 118 kB)
• Introductory Fact Sheet 3/1/97 (PDF, 421 kB)
• Laboratory Intercomparison FMIP-0999: Water - Total Mercury and Methylmercury
• Publications and Reports by Affiliated Research Groups (2/25/00)
  • Open Literature Publications
  • Conference Presentations
  • Agency Reports, Documents, and Theses
    • 1999 PaMSWaD Report - Pathways of Mercury in Solid Waste Disposal
  • Abstracts
• World Wide Web Publications - Reddy, M.M. , Aiken, G., Schuster, P.F., Gunther, C., Charlton, S., and Tregellas, J., 1996, Summary of data from onsite and laboratory analyses of surface water and marsh porewater from South Florida Water Management District water conservation areas, the Everglades, South Florida, March 1995.

DEP Mercury Program - Table of Contents

• Everglades Mercury TMDL Pilot Study (Revised: November 2003)
  Atkeson, T.D., D.M. Axelrad, C.D. Pollman and G.J. Keeler. 2003. Integrating Atmospheric Mercury Deposition with Aquatic Cycling in the Florida Everglades: An Approach for Conducting a Total Maximum Daily Load Analysis for an Atmospherically Derived Pollutant. Integrated Summary, Final Report. Prepared by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, University of Michigan Air Quality Laboratory, and Tetra Tech Inc., 274 pp.
• Mercury in Florida's Environment
• Everglades Mercury Round Robins
• Health Advisories for Mercury in Fish in Florida
  • General Information 
  • Advisories by Water Body and County
    • Eating Guidelines for Fresh Water Fish From Florida Waters
    • Eating Guidelines for Marine and Estuarine Fish From Florida Waters
    • Eating Fish From Florida Waters with Dioxin, Pesticide, or Saxitoxin Contamination
  • Health Department Advisories 
• Related Mercury Web Sites
  • Selected References to Mercury Related Sites