Environmental Contamination and Consumption of Waterfowl

Throughout history, humans have eaten locally caught meat for a variety of nutritional, cultural, and economic reasons. In the present day, hunters in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut harvest over ½ a million wild-caught ducks and geese annually. But, as human activities and infrastructure continue to alter and contaminate the environment, hunters need up-to-date information on whether wild-caught meat is still a healthy food option and, if so, how much they can safely consume without being exposed to potentially dangerous levels of contaminants.

Current guidelines for hunters who consume wild waterfowl are largely based on old data, so we set out to acquire contemporary data that could be used to update these consumption guidelines. In our recent study entitled ‘Environmental Contaminants Assessment for Frequently Harvested Migratory Waterfowl in the Northeast Atlantic Flyway’, we sampled five different species of commonly harvested waterfowl for mercury, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). We found a wide array of contaminants in our randomly sampled birds, and all our samples contained detectable levels of PCBs and at least one OCP and PFAS. Our data also revealed that Canada geese and wood ducks had lower contaminant burdens than mallards, American green-winged teal, and American black ducks, likely stemming from differences in the natural feeding behaviors of these species.

These contemporary data prompt two important questions, neither of which have immediately clear answers: (1) how does this contamination affect the health and sustainability of waterfowl populations, and (2) how many of these birds can we safely eat before consumption does a disservice to our health? We believe that our study can lay the foundation for future research into these questions in the Northeast and elsewhere. After all, in a rapidly changing world, it is imperative that data stays apace to promote a healthy and sustainable present and future for both waterfowl and their hunters.