This project is an integrated assessment that will review the causes, consequences, and correctives for contamination on the Detroit River. More specifically, it will look at the reasons why fish contamination advisories are issued when they are. The project seeks to bring policy-makers, interested stakeholders, scientists, and governmental agencies together on both the Canadian and United States sides of the shore to talk about new information concerning PCB contamination and integrate historical elements to create new approaches to manage of the River. We aim to help in protecting the health and safety of the people who fish on the Detroit River, the ecosystems that house them, and the economy that depends on fishing.


Currently, the Detroit River remains under several fish consumption advisories that impact both human health and economic revenue. Despite the critical importance of these advisories, little progress has been made in developing effective management strategies. Many uncertainties remain regarding the drivers behind these advisories, including the relative contribution of sediment hot spots, the role of point versus non-point contaminant sources, and the appropriateness of methods in setting and identifying allowable contamination levels for consumption advisories. Because of these complexities, solutions for remedying consumption advisories will require novel approaches directed at both decreasing contamination in fish over the long-term and reducing human health risks in the short- and long-term.


We envision this effort as a pilot project that can be expanded to other contaminants of concern in the Detroit River and to other impacted areas in the state of Michigan that are under consumption advisories. We are also interested in using this project as the basis for future efforts to assess the effectiveness of consumption advisories in effecting behavior changes in recreational and subsistence fisherpersons.

The IA framework explicitly promotes collaboration and participation of multiple interested groups. We seek out the active participation of different stakeholder groups to identify and achieve feasible goals. This will foster the connections between the science, management or policy outcomes, and the demands of invested citizens. This information will be crucial in guiding management initiatives. The collaborative effort will provide a framework for addressing advisories for other contaminants of concern in the Detroit River and at other areas of concern.



"Stakeholders are the most crucial part to collaboration. Different stakeholders come together for vested self-interest and they actually DO relate in a network. These relationships play over and over again in different situations. A clear mapping of these relationships will help minimize negative connections and highlight the positive." - Rose Ellison, US EPA