NEWSLETTER
ST LAWRENCE VISION 2000
VOLUME 12 – ISSUE 6 – DECEMBER 2001
Preceding issues

Survey of waterfowl and fish consumption by St. Lawrence
waterfowl hunters and health risk analysis

Photo by: Denver Bryan / www.denverbryan.com

Under the Human Health component of St. Lawrence Vision 2000, the public health research unit of the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec (CHUQ), a Quebec City hospital, carried out a study on several aspects of waterfowl and fish consumption by migratory game bird hunters. The information obtained allowed health risks to these users of the St. Lawrence to be analysed.

Photo by: Environment Canada

According to the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) of Environment Canada, over 30,000 migratory game bird hunting permits were sold in Quebec for the 1999-2000 season. Of the 353,000 geese and ducks harvested during the season, roughly 65% were taken by hunters along the banks of the St. Lawrence.

Waterfowl can be contaminated by a number of chemical products. Health Canada’s Food Directorate considers levels of chemical contaminants in aquatic birds to be too low, however, to pose a health risk to waterfowl consumers in Canada.

In 1998, a team from the CHUQ public health research unit showed that Health Canada’s risk assessment (based on contamination data obtained by the CWS) did indeed hold true for the consumption of waterfowl harvested from the St. Lawrence (see article entitled "Health Risks Related to Consumption of Waterfowl from the St. Lawrence"). However, the calculated exposure doses for some chemical contaminants, particularly mercury and selenium, suggested that very frequent consumers of fish and waterfowl from the St. Lawrence could be exposed to chemical contaminants above the recommended limits set by public health agencies. (Calculated exposure doses were based on possible consumption scenarios for waterfowl and fish). Since no study had been done in Quebec to evaluate the extent of waterfowl consumption by hunters, it was difficult to determine what proportion of the hunting population consumed geese and ducks above and beyond the doses deemed safe to human health.

This lack of information has now been remedied. As Jean-François Duchesne, the researcher at the CHUQ research unit in charge of the two projects, explains, "we undertook, in collaboration with the CWS, a consumption survey to describe waterfowl hunting and consumption habits by migratory game bird hunters, as well as their harvesting and consumption of sport fish from the St. Lawrence. Using the data we obtained, we were able to carry out a health risk analysis based on up-to-date and comprehensive information."

Data previously unavailable in Quebec

Survey participants were selected from among hunters who had obtained a migratory game bird hunting permit for the 1999-2000 season. A total of 1,000 questionnaires were sent to waterfowl hunters in the winter of 2000 and close to 53% responded. The study area consisted of the entire St. Lawrence, from Cornwall in the west to the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the east.

The first part of the questionnaire dealt with waterfowl hunting and consumption habits. Participants were asked about such things as how often they consumed migratory game birds (geese, dabbling ducks, pochards, goldeneye, sea ducks and mergansers), the parts of the bird and quantities consumed and precautions taken when preparing the meat (removal of fat and shot).

The second part of the questionnaire dealt with waterfowl hunters’ consumption of fish. Hunters were asked if they had engaged in sport fishing on the St. Lawrence during the 12 months preceding the survey (including both open-water and ice fishing) and if they had eaten sport fish caught in the St. Lawrence during the same period. Respondents were asked to specify the number of meals consumed of each species. Survey participants’ perceptions of the dangers posed by fish and waterfowl consumption were also evaluated.

The survey results showed that over 93% of respondents had eaten at least one meal of waterfowl during the survey period. The average number of meals in a year was 7.5, consisting mainly of geese and dabbling ducks. Although the great majority of hunters 62%) had eaten fewer than ten meals of waterfowl, some hunters had eaten between 80 and 114 meals of waterfowl.

The survey also showed that close to 50% of hunters were also consumers of sport fish caught in the St. Lawrence, having eaten at least one meal of sport fish from the St. Lawrence in the 12 previous months. The most frequently consumed species were walleye and yellow perch (52% of all meals), and the average number of meals eaten in a year was 8.7 (all species). Some waterfowl hunters were also frequent consumers of fish, eating over 50 meals of fish during the survey period.

A minimal health risk

Researchers currently believe that chemical contamination in the waterfowl consumed is generally too low to constitute a significant risk to hunters’ health, at the levels measured in the survey. However, hunters who consume both waterfowl and large quantities of freshwater fish from the St. Lawrence could expose themselves to levels of chemical contaminants in waterfowl or fish higher than those seemed safe for health.

Duchesne concludes that "given the results of our risk analyses, we believe that advisories on the consumption of waterfowl hunted in the St. Lawrence region are not needed. However, to limit exposure to contaminants, particularly mercury, we recommend that hunters who also consume fish abide by the sport-fish consumption advisories currently in effect."

For more information:

Jean-François Duchesne
Researcher
Unité de recherche en santé publique du CHUQ
Telephone : (418) 666-7000, ext. 205
Fax: (418) 666-2776
E-mail: Jean-Francois.Duchesne@crchul.ulaval.ca

Source:

DUCHESNE, J.-F., D. GAUVIN, B. LÉVESQUE, S. GINGRAS and É. DEWAILLY. 2001. Enquête sur la consommation d’oiseaux migrateurs et de poissons de pêche sportive auprès de la population de chasseurs de sauvagine du Saint-Laurent et analyse des risques à la santé, CHUL, Centre de recherche du CHUQ, Unité de recherche en santé publique, 148 pp.