Faculty Collaboration Database

A thirty-year contaminant trend analysis in great lakes Native American fish harvests 1991-2021. Environ Pollut 2023 Sep 15;333:122075

Date

06/22/2023

Pubmed ID

37343914

Pubmed Central ID

PMC10529940

DOI

10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122075

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85163194921 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)

Abstract

The Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority (CORA) in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan has been monitoring contaminant concentrations of mercury (Hg) and polychorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the fillet portions of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) and lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformus) from waters of lakes Superior, Huron, and Michigan since 1991. This contaminant monitoring program is essential to supporting the fisheries interests and consumption advice for five Ojibwa and Ottawa tribes (collectively called Anishinaabe) whose ancestors ceded lands through the 1836 Treaty of Washingtonbut retained the rights to hunt and fish on those lands and waters. This manuscript presents an updated contaminant trend analysis covering the past three decades in which we observed a significant decreasing trend of median PCBs in both whitefish and lake trout harvested by tribal fishermen across all lakes. Median Hg tissue burdens significantly increased in whitefish harvests across all lakes and lake trout harvested from lake Michigan relative to earlier decades. Linear regression of fish fillets, adjusted for length, also conform to these trends. In 2021, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were detected in all Lake Michigan samples of lake trout (median 6.81pbb total PFAS) and in white fish (median 7.18 ppb total PFAS). Both decreasing and increasing trends of these key contaminants can alter fish consumption advice and risk calculations relative to advice presented in earlier decades.

Author List

Dellinger MJ, Daskalska L, Ripley M

Author

Matthew J. Dellinger PhD Associate Professor in the Institute for Health and Equity department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Animals
Environmental Monitoring
Fishes
Fluorocarbons
Great Lakes Region
Humans
Mercury
Polychlorinated Biphenyls
Salmonidae
Trout
Water Pollutants, Chemical