The 2009 - 2010 Guide to Eating Ontario Sport Fish

The format of the 2009-2010 Guide is essentially unchanged from the 2007-2008 edition. However, there are many changes in the advisory tables, some of which reflect updates to methods of calculating consumption advisories, while others reflect changes in contaminant levels. This new edition incorporates approximately 120,000 test results performed on about 12,000 samples, and also provides consumption advice for about 100 more locations than the last edition.

The Sport Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program, which started in 1976, is the largest program of its kind in North America. Staff at the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) and Ministry of the Environment (MOE) collect fish samples, which are analyzed for a variety of substances, including mercury, PCBs, mirex, DDT and dioxins at the MOE laboratory in Toronto. Samples have been tested from 1860 locations in Ontario’s inland lakes and rivers and the Canadian waters of the Great Lakes. The results are used to develop the tables in the Guide, which give size-specific consumption advice for each species tested from each location. This advice is based on health protection guidelines developed by Health Canada. The Guide is published every other year by the MOE in partnership with the MNR.

For further information on the program or results in the Guide, contact:

Sport Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program
Ministry of the Environment
Environmental Monitoring and Reporting Branch
125 Resources Road
Etobicoke, ON M9P 3V6
(416) 327-6816
1-800-820-2716
e-mail: sportfish.moe@ontario.ca

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Women of child-bearing age and children under 15 are more sensitive to the effects of contaminants found in some sport fish. The Ontario Ministry of the Environment issues more stringent advice for women of child-bearing age and children under 15 in the Guide to Eating Ontario Sport Fish. More information is available in:

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Contaminants in Sport Fish Important information for protecting your family