Fish consumption and advisory awareness in the Great Lakes basin

Fish is a dietary staple in the United States. Risk of exposure to persistent contaminants through fish consumption is a significant health concern. Great Lakes basin states, along with the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Great Lakes Consortium for Fish Consumption Advisories, have developed and continuously updated fish consumption advisories specifically for the Great Lakes basin residents.

To characterize Great Lakes basin residents' fish consumption and advisory awareness, we conducted a point-in-time survey to describe fish consumption habits and awareness of state and EPA/FDA fish advisories.

We used a randomized, address-based sampling approach to recruit respondents from the eight Great Lakes basin states. Weighted survey analysis procedures were used to estimate population prevalence of fish consumption habits, state and EPA/FDA advisory awareness, and demographic and background characteristics. Logistic regression models were used to assess the associations between demographic and background factors and fish consumption and awareness of advisories, respectively.

About 92% of respondents, representing an estimated 61 million adults, reported eating fish in the last 12 months. About 64% of respondents only consumed commercial fish, and an estimated 5 million fish consumers exceeded the EPA/FDA recommended limit for fish meals. Minorities were more likely to exceed the EPA/FDA recommended limit. About half of the respondents were aware of state or EPA/FDA advisories; however, minorities and women were less aware of the EPA/FDA advisory. After adjusting for demographic characteristics, sportfish consumption was significantly associated with state advisory awareness; commercial fish consumption was significantly associated with EPA/FDA awareness.

Most respondents only consumed commercial fish, but an estimated 18.6 million adults consumed sportfish. While half of the fish consumers were aware of state or EPA/FDA advisories, minorities and women continue to be less aware of fish advisories. Improved outreach strategies are needed to inform them about safe fish-consumption guidelines.