Mercury is a widespread environmental toxicant and pollutant that travels up the food chain onto people's dinner plates. Although a global issue, mercury regulations vary worldwide. Depending on where one lives in relation to mercury emissions, regional remediation makes minimal impacts for local fish consumption advisories. This is particularly true in a sensitive landscape like Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where nearly 80 percent of inland lakes are impaired.
Mercury is a widespread environmental toxicant and pollutant that travels up the food chain onto people's dinner plates. Although a global issue, mercury regulations vary worldwide. Depending on where one lives in relation to mercury emissions, regional remediation makes minimal impacts for local fish consumption advisories. This is particularly true in a sensitive landscape like Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where nearly 80 percent of inland lakes are impaired.
For the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC), the problem culminates in the question, when can we eat the fish? A simple answer is elusive, but a study led by Michigan Technological University did provide insights as to what must be done to make the fish safe to eat.
The KBIC's question helped guide biogeochemical modelers, environmental engineers and social scientists to bridge global-chemical transport models and the local impacts on the KBIC and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The study was published this week in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts(DOI: 10.1039/c7em00547d), and the work is part of a National Science Foundation program looking at the dynamics of coupled natural and human systems.
Read more at Michigan Technological University
Image: Fishing on Keweenaw Bay is an all-seasons endeavor and is an important source for food the local indigenous community. However, because of the landscape's sensitivity, mercury levels remain higher than the tribe considers safe in key species like lake trout and whitefish. (Credit: Sarah Bird/Michigan Tech)
