Fish Consumption Advisory Process

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is the state agency responsible for collecting fish tissue and testing for contaminants. The NC Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) uses the data on contaminant concentrations to set fish consumption advisories. Fish tissue testing can be requested by the DEQ, by local health departments, or during a public health evaluation at a hazardous waste location. 

To set these advisories, NC DHHS uses the fish tissue data along with general information and some assumptions about the types and amounts of fish eaten by the average person, to assess health risk. NC DHHS sometimes take subsistence fish consumers into account as well. If the agency identifies a significant health risk for a group of people as a result of eating certain types of fish, then NC DHHS will issue a fish consumption advisory for that body of water, with corresponding limits to how much of each type of fish can be eaten, each week.

Resources:

Learn best practices for communicating with the public about fish consumption advisories.

Learn about the how to collect contaminant data on fish to inform future fish consumption advisories.