Here's a guide from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services for eating local freshwater fish. For all fish except trout, follow these guidelines:

• Pregnant and nursing women, and women who may become pregnant, can safely eat one 8-ounce meal of freshwater fish a month.
• Children under age 7 can safely eat one 8-ounce meals of freshwater fish a month.
• All other adults and kids 7 and older can safely eat four 8-ounce meals of freshwater fish a month.
• When eating bass, pickerel, white perch or yellow perch, limit your consumption to fish 12 inches long or smaller, and follow the above guidelines.
• Stocked trout contains relatively low levels of mercury. For rainbow and brown trout, women of childbearing age and children can safely eat one meal a week, and others can eat six meals a week.
• Brook trout could either be stocked or from a reproducing population, so it should be consumed according to the above guidelines.

Another tip from DES: All dietary sources of fish should be considered together. That means a pregnant woman who’s had one meal of freshwater fish shouldn’t eat any additional mercury-containing fish or shellfish that month, whether it was caught in fresh water or the ocean. For more information, call 271-3503.