Fish rodeo comes with a catch

Uh-oh. Beware the bonito, the wahoo and that dreaded king mackerel.

That’s what the 3,000-plus anglers may hear this weekend at the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo, normally a showcase of fish tales, big catches and good cheer on the Gulf of Mexico.

Oceana, a liberal nonprofit conservation group with some hefty Hollywood connections, will be on the prowl among the fish-happy folks, testing winning catches for mercury and trolling, perhaps, for a few new members.

The organization plans to test hundreds of the tournament fish, “to give anglers and the families the facts they need to keep eating fish safely,” said Jackie Savitz, director of the group’s Seafood Contamination Campaign.

“Recreational anglers,” she said, “are on the front lines of this issue.”

But David Hogberg, director of the nonpartisan Capital Research Center’s Greenwatch program, is not taking the bait.

“What’s this international, liberal group going down to Alabama for? To be with the so-called ’regular folks?’ This is a typical attempt to promote a public health scare, and maybe spark a few more government regulations,” Mr. Hogberg said.

In December, he wrote an analysis of Oceana, founded in 1999 with funding from Ted Turner’s Turner Foundation Inc., actor Ted Danson and others — and intent on turning the ocean into “another political battleground” through media savvy and the “Hollywood-Washington axis.”

Yesterday, Mr. Hogberg gave the group points for “cleverness” in attending the down-home rodeo, which is the nation’s oldest saltwater fishing tournament and the pride and joy of the Mobile, Ala., Jaycees. But Mr. Hogberg faults Oceana’s main premise.

“Some data on mercury in fish isn’t well-founded, and there’s plenty of information about the health benefits of eating fish,” he said. “It’s one thing to do mercury testing in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency, and another to show up a local deep sea fishing rodeo.”

Oceana is an official sponsor of the event, along with bait and tackle shops, boat retailers and others. The group will post its “science team” at the weigh-in station, staff an information booth and provide the results of its tests to anyone via e-mail — along with the opportunity to join Wavemakers, its online activist group.

However, there’s bigger fish to fry. Oceana also has taken on seven Gulf-area chlorine plants that use mercury in the manufacturing process, picketed the Virginia-based Chlorine Institute in March and complied a list of companies contributing to “the global mercury crisis.”

Down in Alabama, though, fun and fishing are still the focus. The rodeo will still offer a $250 King Mackerel Jackpot, though the Food and Drug Administration has warned pregnant women not to eat mackerel, as well as shark, swordfish or tilefish.

The rodeo also will feature a Biggest Liar Contest for die-hard anglers, among other events.

“This is the first year for Oceana to be with us,” said Jaycees spokesman Mike Thomas. “They say they’ll get some live data on this mercury question. You hear about this stuff, now it may be neat to see real test results.”