NSF Award
2408967
This project addresses a critical gap in knowledge of the combined effects of a wide range of chemical pollutants on coastal communities. By integrating social and environmental science approaches, the research will provide a comprehensive assessment of human health risks in Tampa Bay, Florida. Unlike traditional studies that focus on a single pollutant class or generalized fishing populations, this project investigates a broad spectrum of chemicals and prioritizes the needs of subsistence fishers, who face potentially higher exposure due to their consumption patterns. The project's findings, combined with toxicology and contaminant data from another analysis of emerging chemical threats, will inform the development of data-driven risk assessments and pollution mitigation strategies, while also promoting environmental justice and protecting the health of vulnerable populations. Study results will provide significant societal benefits well beyond the quest for new knowledge. Contaminant effects on subsistence fishers, consuming fish at much higher frequencies than the general population, are likely underestimated for these populations. By involving community groups and regulatory agencies, the results of this project will be used by management agencies in designing more effective pollution mitigation options, accounting for differential impacts on various sub-populations and historically underrepresented groups.<br/><br/>This study examines an integrated socio- environmental system in Tampa Bay, Florida, that consists of a broad spectrum of emerging and legacy chemical pollutants, transport of those chemicals from their putative sources to their interaction with recreational fish species and subsistence fisheries, and the potential for subsistence fishers to be at elevated risk of contaminant pollution via seafood consumption. Comprehensive social science surveys will identify significant shore-based fishing sites supporting recreational and subsistence fisheries, provide ethnographic profiles of shore- and boat-based fishers, estimate their consumption rates, and better understand the relative risks of subsistence fishers in relation to other sub-populations consuming fish from the Bay. Hydrodynamic tracer simulations will examine the trajectory of pollutants emanating from known point sources of emerging chemical threats and how these trajectories interact with popular subsistence fishing sites. Simulations of sea level rise and storm surge elevations will be used to forecast which currently used subsistence fishing sites are most at risk from climate change and severe weather. Models of location choice by subsistence fishers are used to optimize location selection for new or alternative shore-based areas to maximize subsistence- based fishing while minimizing harmful contaminant exposures.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
