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Reducing Risks to the Anishinaabe from Methylmercury GLIFWC’s Mercury Program

Reducing Risks to the Anishinaabe from Methylmercury GLIFWC’s Mercury Program. Matt Hudson Environmental Biologist Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC). GLIFWC Mission. Assist member bands in the implementation of off-reservation harvest seasons

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Reducing Risks to the Anishinaabe from Methylmercury GLIFWC’s Mercury Program

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  1. Reducing Risks to the Anishinaabe from MethylmercuryGLIFWC’s Mercury Program Matt Hudson Environmental Biologist Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC)

  2. GLIFWC Mission • Assist member bands in the implementation of off-reservation harvest seasons • Protect treaty rights and natural resources • GLIFWC provides • natural resource management expertise • conservation enforcement • legal and policy analysis • public information services

  3. Tribal Walleye Harvesting Netting Spearing

  4. Inland Lake Walleye Harvest – 1837 and 1842 Ceded Territory

  5. Mercury and fish consumption • Major route for human exposure to mercury • Walleye top predator fish that often contain elevated levels of mercury Algae Zooplankton Fish People

  6. Mercury and fish consumption • Fish is a healthy and culturally important food source • Other available consumption advisories don’t typically consider cultural aspects of fish consumption • Challenge is maximizing health and cultural benefits while minimizing risks

  7. GLIFWC’s Mercury Program Goal • To develop, implement, evaluate, and document a comprehensive, systematic, and culturally-sensitive intervention program to reduce risks associated with subsistence based consumption of methylmercury contaminated fish.

  8. GLIFWC’s Mercury Program • Main Focus • Mercury data collection (since 1989) • Outreach through consumption advisory maps (since 1996) • In Addition – Collect information to inform and improve consumption advisory process • Fish consumption study • Science-based advisory methodology • Targeted intervention • Evaluate intervention • Trend and Risk Analyses

  9. Walleye Samples Collected by GLIFWC for Mercury Testing by Year (Inland Lakes)

  10. Walleye Advisory Maps

  11. Walleye Consumption by GLIFWC-Member Tribes

  12. Intervention Program Focus • Fish Harvesters • WI Women of Childbearing Age and Children Approach • Tribal Leaders • GLIFWC Wardens • Elders • Broad Dissemination of Maps Evaluate effectiveness • Pre-intervention surveys • Post-intervention surveys

  13. How Effective Was Our Intervention? • Awareness of maps increased in all surveyed groups • Concern about mercury in fish increased • Preference for smaller walleye increased • Harvesters were labeling fillet bags with lake name • Few using maps to choose lakes for harvest • Tribal lifeways not affected by advisory program

  14. Other Ways We are Using Mercury Program Data

  15. Mercury Concentrations in Walleye in Northern WI Declining Over Time

  16. Estimating Mercury Exposure to Tribal Fish Harvesters • Probabalistic Risk Assessment – Lifeline Software Mercury Exposure Risk Analysis Consumption Data Harvest Data Mercury Data

  17. Acknowledgements • Adam DeWeese, Former Environmental Biologist, GLIFWC • Neil Kmiecik, Biological Services Director, GLIWFC • Jeffery Foran, Ph.D., EHSI LLC • ATSDR and EPA for funding

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