Toxic Contaminants Research Outcome:Factors Influencing Progress
Several factors could impact our ability to increase our understanding of the impacts and mitigation of toxic contaminants. These factors have directly informed the management actions our partners will take to achieve the Toxic Contaminants Research outcome.
Resource Constraints
Jurisdictions face resource constraints in generating new data on the occurrence and concentrations of toxic contaminants. Jurisdictions also face resource constraints in collecting and analyzing fish tissue and associated samples. In addition, few laboratories are able to conduct sample analyses for all of the toxic contaminant groups.
Lack of Consolidated Data and Information
- Monitoring data. There is no watershed-wide monitoring program that integrates data on the condition of fish and wildlife with data from water quality and sediment samples. This limits our ability to determine (a) the exposure of fish and wildlife to various compounds, and (b) the pollutants and other factors that are degrading the health of fish and wildlife.
- Toxicity thresholds. A lack of toxicity thresholds for certain pollutants hinders our ability to assess or address the effects of these pollutants on fish and wildlife.
- Emerging issues. There is limited knowledge on assessing the importance and implications of emerging issues.
Limited Comparability of Data and Information
Because jurisdictions have differing assumptions about fish consumption and human exposure to toxic contaminants, it can be difficult to compare fish consumption advisories across the watershed.