Historical Perspective of Fish and Shellfish Consumption Advisory Guidance
In the 1990s, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency developed the four-volume Guidance for Assessing Chemical Contaminant Data for Use in Fish Advisories for state, local, regional and Tribal environmental health officials in response to the need for a standardized risk-based approach for developing fish consumption advisories across different jurisdictions.
Volume 1: Fish Sampling and Analysis, Third Edition provides information on sampling strategies for a contaminant monitoring program. The five-step process described in the Building Fish and Shellfish Consumption Advisory Programs includes and supersedes content from Volume 1.
Volume 2: Risk Assessment and Fish Consumption Limits, Third Edition (pdf) provides guidance on the development of appropriate meal sizes and frequency of meal consumption for the target analytes that bioaccumulate in fish tissues. Volume 3: Risk Management (pdf) provides an overview of a risk management framework for selecting and implementing various options for reducing health risks associated with the consumption of chemically contaminated fish and shellfish. When Analyzing Data and Calculating the Consumption Limits and Developing a Fish and/or Shellfish Advisory webpages are developed they will include and supersede Volumes 2 and 3.
Volume 4: Risk Communication was converted to an online format in 2020 as the initial step in updating the four volume set of fish consumption advisory documents. This volume is intended for state, territory and Tribal program managers who are developing and implementing risk communication materials for fish consumption advisories.