Like a lot of Bay County residents, Brian Lague eats fish caught locally on a regular basis.Lague, an eighth grade student at Surfside Middle School, has taken his interest in fish and applied it to a science fair project that he plans to enter in the 2011 Three Rivers Regional Science and Engineering Fair, an annual event.
His project involves the study of mercury levels in local fish, with his research taking him to the U.S. Geological Survey Florida Water Science Center in Tallahassee and a Florida A&M University laboratory.
He said the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill played a part in his choice of a science fair project this year.
“It got me wondering if the oil spill could affect the mercury in the fish, because oil has mercury in it,” Lague said.
For his latest science fair project, Lague has collected more than 75 fish tissue samples from Grand Lagoon and the Gulf of Mexico, including snapper, grouper, amberjack, menhaden, pinfish, croaker and mullet.
Marlene East said her son spent a day at the USGS lab in Tallahassee, with Lia Chasar helping Lague grind and dry all of the samples.
She said the FAMU lab offered to let Lague use their direct mercury analyzer to get mercury readings, with NOAA and USGS scientists helping her son run statistical tests to analyze the mercury levels and compare them to recommended Food and Drug Administration levels.
At FAMU, Lague said he worked with graduate students who helped him with his readings.
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