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PFAS in Great Lakes Fish: Spatial and Temporal Trends
Citation:
Balgooyen, S., B. Blackwell, AND R. Lepak. PFAS in Great Lakes Fish: Spatial and Temporal Trends. Great Lakes Fish Health Committee, NA, MN, January 31, 2023. https://doi.org/10.23645/epacomptox.21989573
Impact/Purpose:
Presentation to the Great Lakes Fish Health Committee Meeting January 2023. PFAS have been produced industrially since the 1940s. Widespread use of these compounds have led to their presence across many media in the environment. PFAS are found in Great Lakes waters and fish. This study aims to determine long terms trends of PFAS concentrations in Great Lakes fish.
Description:
Biomonitoring programs have existed in the Great Lakes since the 1970’s to protect human health and the environment by assessing concentrations of harmful chemicals in fish as an indicator of ecosystem health. These programs, such as the US EPA Great Lakes Fish and Monitoring Surveillance Program (GLFMSP), contain archived samples from as early as the late 1970s. Biomonitoring programs originally focused on persistent organic pollutants, but newer contaminant classes such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were not routinely monitored until recent years. PFAS have been identified as chemicals of mutual concern by both the United States and Canada, and additional data on PFAS occurrence in the Great Lakes is needed to fill critical data gaps in understanding the historical trends of PFAS in Great Lakes fish. This project aims to reconstruct PFAS trends in the Great Lakes using the GLFMSP lake trout archive (1978-present).
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: PFAS in Great Lakes Fish: Spatial and Temporal Trends
FHC_MEETING_SB.PDF (PDF, NA pp, 1557.112 KB, about PDF)