Interspecific differences in omega-3 PUFA and contaminants explain the most variance in suggested Great Lakes' fish consumption when risks/benefits are considered together

Contaminants and essential omega-3 fatty acids were analyzed in the fillets of 15 fish species from lakes Superior and Huron in order to estimate the risks and benefits of fish consumption. Additionally, literature data from lakes Ontario and Erie fish were used to provide an overall assessment for 24 fish species from the Canadian waters of the Great Lakes. The consumption advisory (based on contaminant levels) and EPA + DHA content (eicosapentanoic + docosahexanoic acid) were considered as a health risk and a health benefit, respectively. The differences in the risks and benefits of fish consumption were driven more by species than lake, indicating that within the Great Lakes advisories can focus on species rather than lakes to provide balanced risk-benefit estimates. Salmonines and coregonines had the highest EPA + DHA content; their mean EPA + DHA content ranged from 641 to 748 mg 100 g(-1) in salmonines, and from 340 to 728 mg 100 g(-1) in coregonines. The mean EPA + DHA content in Perciformes and Esociformes was 157-239 mg 100 g(-1) and 199-244 mg 100 g(-1), respectively. The species-specific consumption advisories were the most stringent for salmonines in all the lakes. For salmonines, the lake-specific advisories were the most stringent in lakes Ontario and Erie, although differences among lakes were small, indicating similar risks across all four lakes. Adherence to local species- and length-specific consumption advisories, in tandem with considering information on nutritional content, leads to evidence-based decisions regarding the optimum balance between risk and benefit with respect to fish consumption. Crown Copyright (C) 2020 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of International Association for Great Lakes Research. All rights reserved.