Great Lakes Consortium
Fish Consumption
Advisory Enhancement
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Grant
In 2010, the Great Lakes Consortium for Fish Consumption Advisories began work on a grant to support enhanced fish consumption advisory programs in the Great Lakes basin. The project, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), includes collaborative work by all member-states of the Consortium, and projects in partnership with Cornell and Clarkson Universities. Project activities will be completed in 2013. The project has three main objectives:
Objective 1: Improve the public’s understanding of risks and benefits of consuming fish by effectively communicating fish advisory information.
Objective 2: Improve fish monitoring by producing comparable data basin-wide, and filling data gaps for non-routine contaminants of concern and nutrients in fish fillets.
Objective 3: Evaluate Risks and Benefits of Consuming Fish.
Completed Reports
Fish Consumption Advisory Assessment was undertaken to:
(1) provide Consortium states the information needed to develop a consistent approach to communicating and evaluating FCAs; and
(2) identify barriers to, and opportunities for greater coordination of FCA communication programs.
This assessment is organized into three sections. The first describes similarities and differences in the states’ fish consumption advisory programs. The second identifies factors influencing coordination between the states, and the third provides recommendations for ways in which the states could improve coordination and consistency among their programs.
Licensed Angler Survey of more than 1,700 licensed anglers in seven states was conducted to collect information about current fish consumption behaviors and factors influencing those behaviors among a key population served by FCAs. The report quantifies those behaviors and identifies the factors motivating them. It also assesses FCA awareness among this group, and makes recommendations about fish consumption advisory objectives, content, delivery, and evaluation.
Focus Groups in 2011 included a series of seven focus groups with retirees, urban anglers and women of childbearing age conducted by Cornell University in six Great Lakes states. The purpose of these focus groups was to identify factors that influence consumption of Great Lakes basin fish, including the factors identified with the Theory of Planned Behavior (attitude, perceived control, subjective norms). Focus groups also explored participants’ current sources of information about the risks and benefits of fish consumption, the key messages they have received from those sources.
Survey of New Mothers was conducted among 3,000 women who recently gave birth in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. The purpose of the survey was to better understand factors influencing fish consumption behaviors in women of childbearing age and to suggest ways consortium states could improve their advisory communications to this at-risk population. The report quantifies these behaviors, assesses awareness of fish consumption advisories and recommendations, and makes recommendations about fish consumption advisory language, content and delivery.
