Fish Tissue Data Collected by EPA Partners
National Listing of Fish Advisories
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's partners, including state, local and Tribal environmental health officials, collect fish tissue data that can be used to develop fish and shellfish advisories. For more information on specific data collected by these partners, refer to their respective websites.
From the 1970s through 2010, the EPA requested fish tissue data from the states, territories and Tribes annually, and added the data to the National Listing of Fish Advisories (NLFA) database. From these data, the EPA developed an easy-to-use mapping tool that allows state, local and Tribal fish advisory program managers and other technical users to search for now historical fish tissue data.
The EPA did not analyze these data or require that these data be gathered in a specific way. This mapping tool provides a central repository of the historic fish tissue data as a service to and convenience for the public.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Programs under the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)
NOAA’s National Status and Trends (NS&T) is comprised of two nationwide programs, Mussel Watch and Bioeffects that describe the status of, and detect changes in, the environmental quality of our Nation’s estuarine and coastal waters through environmental monitoring, assessment and related research.
NOAA’s National Mussel Watch Program is the longest continuous, nationwide contaminant monitoring program in U.S. coastal waters. The program analyzes sediment and bivalve tissue chemistry for a suite of organic contaminants and trace metals to identify trends at over 300 selected coastal sites from 1986 to present.
NOAA’s Bioeffects Assessment Program identifies and assesses biological effects associated with contaminant exposure. Over forty intensive regional studies have been conducted since 1986 using the Sediment Quality Triad approach which utilizes a stratified random sampling method to determine the areal extent of contaminated sediments. The data include: sediment chemistry, toxicity, and species diversity and quantity for the same suite of organic contaminants and trace metals as the Mussel Watch Program.