Abstract
Consumption advisories associated with mercury concentrations are typically based on consumption of fish fillets; however, many First Nation community members consume more than just the fish fillet...
Highlights
With many First Nation members continuing to enjoy a diet consisting mainly of traditional foods, fish remains a critical element of the diet and the reinforcement of fish quality is important with respect to food security
Subsistence fishers need to be aware of the presence of mercury in fish tissues; advisories based on the fillet concentration alone may not be appropriate for all consumers
A single factor analysis of variance was conducted for mercury concentrations in fillets of both fish species across all of the lakes in order to test whether samples from all lakes could be grouped as a single population for further analysis
Summary
With many First Nation members continuing to enjoy a diet consisting mainly of traditional foods, fish remains a critical element of the diet and the reinforcement of fish quality is important with respect to food security. Fish consumers may be exposed to relatively higher levels of methyl mercury by eating mercury-containing fish. Since methyl mercury is a known neurotoxin, it is necessary to limit human exposure; there are mercury-related guidelines for the consumption of fish in order to protect the general public. Health Canada has guidelines for daily mercury intake for the general adult population, women of childbearing age and children under the age of 18 (Health Canada, 2010). The guidelines are most stringent for children and women of childbearing age and are intended to be protective of human health. Summary documents identifying the mercury concentrations in both commercially available fish, both fresh and canned, and in sport fish have been published by Health Canada and Alberta Health, respectively. The balance of health benefit and exposure risk for fish consumers has been identified (Alberta Health 2016; Health Canada, 2007a)
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