Collaborative Meeting on Modeling Mercury in Freshwater Environments Data constraints on Model Testing: An overview of the available MOE data in Lake Ontario Fish January 19-20, 2006 Alan Hayton Sport Fish and Biomonitoring Unit Ministry of Environment Environmental Monitoring and Reporting Branch

Fish contaminant monitoring started in Ontario to address Hg problem in St. Clair River SFCMP started to consolidate all monitoring Guide publication started Guide produced biennially- 350,000 copies/issue - advice on locations (Great Lakes and interconnecting channels and inland lakes and rivers) Database ~1,500,000 records +60,000 annually Analyze >5,000 fish annually Contaminants – Total mercury in all samples; metals, PCBs, dioxins, furans, dioxin-like PCBs, OC pesticides, emerging contaminants Sport Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program

Collect fish over broad size range Analyze individual fish Power-series regression curve Provide consumption advice for 5 cm range (15cm - >75 cm) Resample frequency depends on number of factors Sport Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program Sampling protocol

______________________________________________ 4 meals / month no consumption 8 meals per month

Lake Ontario Sampling Blocks Blocks based on number of factors: Uniform contaminant concentrations Advice from MNR Fisheries biologists Commercial fish zones Where people fish Access points

Sport fish from Lake Ontario have been analyzed for mercury in all collections between 1975 and 2005 In FISHBASE, ~ 13,500 records for mercury analysis on Lake Ontario sport fish exist 36 species collected: carp, smelt, walleye, northern pike, freshwater drum, pumpkinseed, bluegill, lake trout, coho salmon, chinook salmon, channel catfish, rock bass, yellow perch, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass…. Lake Ontario Sport Fish

Credit River Sport Fish Average annual mercury concentrations in (a) chinook salmon (>75cm) and (b) coho salmon (>55cm). Sample size for each species is approx cm. Source: MOE, Todd French, 2006 [ Hg] = (yr) (r2=0.50, P<0.001) [Hg] = (yr) (r2=0.49, P=0.001) Average THg burden (ug/g +/- 1 SD

Routinely monitors persistent toxic contaminants in forage fish in the Great Lakes and selected inland lakes and rivers Forage fish are ideal biomonitors and are useful for identifying point sources and temporal trends because of their restricted home range (more effective than sport fish) Contaminant concentrations in forage fish are compared to tissue residue guidelines (IJC, CCME, NYSDEC) These guidelines are based on mammalian and avian studies and are set by various agencies as guidelines for the protection of wildlife consumers of aquatic biota Forage Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program

Monitoring forage fish in each of the Great Lakes on a 4 year rotating basis Niagara River is currently monitored annually Typically 5 replicates per site separated on size Forage Fish Contaminant Monitoring

Lake Ontario Forage Fish Forage fish have been collected from several areas around Lake Ontario since However, mercury analysis was not performed in many of the historical datasets. Since 1996, mercury analysis has become a routine in all of the forage fish samples A few key areas have a more complete mercury record, such as Niagara River, Humber River, Credit River, Toronto Islands, Burlington Beach and Port Weller.

Lake Ontario Forage Fish