Assessing the fish consumption beneficial use impairment in the Bay of Quinte

The state of contamination in Bay of Quinte fish was assessed to determine whether delisting criteria have been met, and to recommend further studies/actions to be undertaken. We examined fish contaminant data collected by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment between 1975 and 2008 for seven sites in Lake Ontario including the Bay of Quinte. Where sufficient data was available, we tested for differences in recent years by examining the post-1998 data for Walleye, Smallmouth Bass, Yellow Perch and Brown Bullhead. Our analysis specifically focused on known contaminants of concern within the Bay of Quinte: polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), mercury (Hg), as well as Mirex which is known to originate from Lake Ontario. Insufficient data was available for the examination of total TEQs (dioxins, furans and dioxin-like PCBs). When appropriate, we used the general linear model (GLM) to compare contaminant concentrations among sites as a function of fish length. When no significant relationship between contaminant...