Guidance for Conducting Fish and Wildlife Consumption Surveys

The purpose of this document is to provide explicit instructions for selecting a survey approach and designing a survey to obtain consumption rate information. A statistician should also be consulted to provide advice on the specific sampling and statistical analysis considerations for each fish consumption rate assessment project. The survey methods presented in this document may be used by regional, state, tribal, or local agencies to obtain information on the consumption of noncommercially obtained fish and wildlife. This information can then be used to estimate risks to persons who could consume organisms that might contain bioaccumulative and potentially dangerous levels of toxicants, and to develop consumption advisories and water quality standards to protect human health. Such surveys can also provide demographic information about a population for which advisories are issued, which migh assist in the communication of risks and advisory recommendations. The primary objectives of this document are as follows: Emphasize the importance of survey objectives in selecting a survey approach and designing the survey; Provide selection criteria for choosing among the various survey approaches; Critically evaluate key components in survey design and methods, including question development, statistical analysis, quality assurance/quality control, and data interpretation.