Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
the present, which document undue exposure to mercury
because of their heavy reliance on natural resources. A
number of risk-management strategies have been imple-
mented, including fi sh consumption advisories issued by
the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe Health Service in 1986, the New
York State Department of Health (NYS DOH) in 2005, and
Environment Canada. The warnings from 1986 specify
that women and children should not consume area fi sh
and men should consume only one fi sh meal per week. The
NYS DOH set specifi c advisories to avoid consumption of
fi sh from the Grasse River and the bay at General Motors
along with other general advisories. The Canadian envi-
ronmental agency advisories included greater species speci-
fi city, a regional breakdown of the St. Lawrence River, and
allowance for meals of several species of fi sh. The Mohawks
have conducted their own workshops to teach people how
to clean and prepare fi sh to reduce contaminants. The
exact benefi ts and costs of the various risk-management
strategies have yet to be adequately assessed.
Kahnawake is another Mohawk community of 6500
located just south of Montreal, Quebec. Chan et al. (1999)
performed a dietary assessment in the community and
found that 33 of 42 participants actively fi shed in the
region. On average, they had fi shed for 27 years. Daily
fi sh consumption (23 g/day) was higher than in the gen-
eral American population but comparable to other fi sh-
eating Native Peoples throughout the Great Lakes basin.
Most of the Mohawks surveyed indicated that they were
eating less locally caught fi sh than they did 5 to 15 years
ago. This decrease stemmed from the perception that fi sh
are now unhealthy to eat because of chemical pollutants.
Concentrations of mercury were also measured in fi sh
locally caught near the Kahnawake, and in some cases, lev-
els approached or exceeded the Health Canada guideline of
0.5 µg/g. Despite these levels, Chan et al. (1999) concluded
that the nutritional and cultural benefi ts of consuming
locally caught fi sh far outweigh the relatively lower risks
associated with consuming polluted fi sh.
Chippewa Indians practice the traditional art of
spearfi shing walleye, a species of fi sh with quite high mer-
cury burdens. Peterson et al. (1994) surveyed 175 adults
from fi ve Wisconsin Chippewa tribes to assess their fi sh-
consumption habits and to assess levels of blood mercury.
About 50% of participants ate one or fewer fi sh meals per
week, while 21% ate three or more per week. Twenty percent
of the participants had levels of blood mercury
country show that many Asian immigrants practice fi shing.
In particular, the immigrants of Southeast Asia who were
closely connected to the natural environment where hunt-
ing and fi shing were important skills for survival naturally
become avid anglers in their adopted new countries. A sur-
vey of Hmong immigrants in California showed that 50%
still practiced fi shing (Ikeda et al., 1991). Hmongs are one of
the largest groups of Southeast Asian immigrant groups in
the United States. They were recruited by the Central Intel-
ligence Agency and fought for the United States in the Viet-
nam War in the 1960s. After the war, they fl ed persecution
by the communist regime into refugee camps in Thailand
and later into the United States, where they began arriving
in 1975. They continue to be admitted as refugees, mainly
to California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Today, about
100,000 Hmong live in California alone. Other Southeast
Asian immigrant groups with strong track records for sport
fi shing in Canada and the United States include Vietnamese,
Cambodian, Thai, Burmese, Mien, and Lahu.
A survey of southeast Asians in Rhode Island found that
91% ate fi sh and 58% caught their own fi sh (Getz et al.,
2006). Among those who ate fi sh, 47% were categorized as
“infrequent fi sh consumers” (ate fi sh less than once a week),
49% were regular eaters (ate fi sh one to four times per week),
and only 5% were frequent eaters (ate fi sh four or more times
per week). Those in the frequent consumption category
relied almost exclusively on what they caught and never pur-
chased fi sh. Only one third of the study participants had ever
heard of a ban on fi shing or fi sh consumption (Getz et al.,
2006). A study of Vietnamese women in Hamilton, Ontario,
found that most of them ate more than 40 meals per year of
Great Lakes fi sh, with some reporting 100-200 fi sh meals per
year (Cavan, 1993). They claimed that the Great Lakes fi sh
were important to them because they tasted good, were not
expensive, were fresh and nutritious, and reminded them of
their fi shing activity in Vietnam (Shatenstein et al., 1999).
In addition to consuming more fi sh overall, Asian immi-
grants also demonstrate other risk behaviors that dis-
tinguish them from fi shermen (and fi sherwomen) in the
larger sport fi shing context. Among these risk behaviors
are: (a) predatory species (i.e., those with higher contami-
nant loads) and bottom dwellers (especially carp) make up
a large percentage what is eaten; (b) many anglers consume
all and any fi sh they catch; and (c) in addition to the fi llet,
almost every fi sh organ is consumed, often as delicacies. As
noted previously, population-based studies of blood mer-
cury levels in Rhode Island, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New
York City, and other parts of the United States have identi-
fi ed Southeast Asian immigrants as being among the most
at risk with respect to mercury exposure.
5 µg/L but
only one exceeded the 20 µg/L threshold. From this work,
the authors concluded, presumably prematurely, that levels
of mercury are not a health concern for Chippewa adults.
Immigrant Populations from Asia
Non-Hispanic Black Urban Anglers
In most Asian countries, fi sh is consumed almost daily and
represents an important source of protein. Although their
rate of fi sh consumption may decrease when they emigrate
to the United States, surveys done in many parts of this
The demographics of communities in watersheds where
the fi sh tissue levels of mercury substantially exceed the
national health criteria suggest that non-Hispanic black
