A pregnant woman?s guide to eating fish is shortly in the making. Local scientist Philip Rouja is heading the project and said the booklet should be available to gynaecologists by Christmas.

Currently it is unclear which local fish are the safest for expectant mothers to eat. Concern arose in 2004 when the Atlantis survey findings were released. The survey looked at 50 pregnant women in Bermuda and showed they had mercury levels twice the amount deemed safe by the World Health Organisation. It was found that 90 percent of that mercury had come from eating fish. While the levels were high, they were not considered dangerous to adults. But high levels of the poisonous metal in pregnant mothers have been proven to cause brain damage to their children.

Dr. Eric Dewailly, a medical professor at Laval University in Canada, headed the Atlantis survey and recommended that more in-depth testing take place both to determine the source of the mercury and which fish contain it.

Last March Atlantis scientists and officials from the Departments of Health and Environment met to devise a programme to study the problem further. Dr. Andrew Peters, one of the coordinators, at that time advised pregnant women to limit their fish intake to once a week. This month Mr. Rouja and his team are collecting samples of all fish consumed from local waters. ?We will take ten samples of each. All consumed fish whatever it is,? he said. The fish will be weighed and the nutrient content of each calculated. If the findings show large differences in nutritional value in different weights of the same species then further testing will be done. This additional testing will see more specimen brought in at the various weight levels and nutrient content comparisons made.

?We are doing this so that we can advise pregnant women exactly what fish is safest for them to eat,? he said. ?We want to encourage them to eat fish.? He explained that fish contain other nutrients like fatty acids that are important to the healthy development of unborn babies. ?They are high fat and high quality,? he said.

The booklet will feature a nutrient breakdown of each fish studied, detailing its vitamin and mineral composition. Public health specialists who will determine what portion sizes of the various fish are safe and how often they should be consumed will also use the findings. Mr. Rouja hopes to have the booklet available to local gynaecologists by Christmas and plans distribution to the wider public shortly thereafter.

The research is being done under the direction of Dr. Dewailly and has been funded locally by the Leperq Foundation.