2023 Iowa Fish Tissue Monitoring Program Summary of Analyses, October 25, 2024

(2024) 2023 Iowa Fish Tissue Monitoring Program Summary of Analyses, October 25, 2024. Natural Resources, Department of

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Abstract

The state of Iowa conducts fish tissue monitoring to supplement other environmental monitoring programs and to protect the health of people consuming fish from waters within this state. Since 1980, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has conducted annual statewide collections of Iowa fish and sent tissue samples to accredited laboratories for the analyses of toxic contaminants. From 1983 to 2013, this monitoring effort was known as the Regional Ambient Fish Tissue Monitoring Program (RAFT). Beginning in 2014, after United States Environmental Protection Agency Region 7 changed their program support, the only statewide fish contaminant-monitoring program in Iowa was changed to the Iowa Fish Tissue Monitoring Program (IFTMP). Historically, the data generated from the IFTMP have enabled DNR to: 1) document temporal changes in contaminant levels; 2) identify Iowa lakes and rivers where high levels of contaminants in fish potentially threaten the health of fish-consuming Iowans and 3) assess the human health designated use (Class HH) for the Integrated Report.