Through research and action, the CEC is continuing our work to improve the effectiveness of fish consumption advisories and limit exposures from eating unsafe fish.
In March 2019, the Duke Superfund Community Engagement Core led organization of the NC Fish Forum with collaborators from the Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility at UNC-Chapel Hill and the Center for Human Health and the Environment at NC State University. The purpose of the Forum was to convene experts and stakeholders from multiple disciplines to discuss the challenges and opportunities with setting and communicating fish consumption advisories across the state of North Carolina.
After receiving input and feedback from forum participants, the inter-institutional team crafted a final report and executive summary to share key ideas that came out of the Forum. The report and executive summary, along with additional information, is available at a newly-developed website, NCFishForum.org.
The primary intended audience for the report is local health and wildlife agencies, as well as NGOs that communicate directly with subsistence fish consumers. That said, the information in the report could also be applied more broadly to inform the fish consumption advisory development and dissemination process in our state.
While community-engaged field research is currently on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic, the team is also working on a digital toolkit to help local health departments improve their methods of communication about fish consumption advisories and promote healthy and safe fishing practices among people who catch and eat fish in the state.
You can see all of the existing resources from the CEC on this project, and get research updates at https://sites.nicholas.duke.edu/superfundcec/fish/, or via our Duke Superfund social media channels.
