The State of California’s Bioaccumulation Monitoring Program (Program), in partnership with the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) (collectively referred to as the Project Team) will be working with Tribes, Tribal Organizations, and select non-Tribal partners to develop an interactive and user-friendly Fish Consumption Application (Application) that includes and contextualizes bioaccumulation monitoring data, science, thresholds, advisories, and guidance associated with fish consumption and human health. The Application will be tailored to the needs of California Tribal users who consume fish for subsistence and/or cultural purposes.

In recent years, California Native American Tribes (Tribes) and Tribal Organizations have raised concerns to the State Water Board regarding fish consumption advisories that do not account for their cultural practices that might increase exposure to contaminants. Through the Program Realignment and Tribally-led efforts such as the Science for Communities (SFC) Initiative, Tribes have emphasized that California’s current Fish Consumption Advisories (Fish Advisories) are a high-priority concern.  

This Application, developed by the State of California’s Bioaccumulation Monitoring Program in partnership with SFEI, aims to address these needs. The Application provides a platform with potential to better meet the public health communication needs of Tribal communities. Meeting a complex set of requirements, this Tribal Application and its assembled ambitions likely exceed what can be achieved with limited funding. Therefore, the work scoped in this project is designed to offer a very strong foundation upon which the Project Team, Tribal and non-Tribal partners may continue to build in the future, as additional resources become available.

The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) utilizes Program data to develop Fish Advisories, which are guidelines that recommend how often one can safely eat fish and shellfish caught from water bodies in California. As of the publication of this Data Management and Work Plan (Work Plan), OEHHA has developed over 150 site-specific advisories for lakes, rivers, bays, reservoirs, and the coast as well as statewide advisories for California Lakes and Reservoirs, Coastal Locations, Rivers, Streams, and Creeks without site-specific advice, or for Fish that Migrate, which are not included in a site-specific advisory.