Division of Life Sciences, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI), Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation (CRESP), Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8082, USA.
Ecohealth. 2013 Mar;10(1):21-30. doi: 10.1007/s10393-013-0816-8. Epub 2013 Feb 15.
Individuals who fish and eat self-caught fish make decisions about where to fish, the type to eat, and the quantity to eat. Federal and state agencies often issue consumption advisories for some fish with high mercury (Hg) concentrations, but seldom provide either the actual metal levels to the general public, or identify the fish that have low contaminant levels. Community participatory research is of growing importance in defining, studying, and resolving complex exposure and risk issues, and this paper is at the intersection of traditional stakeholder approaches and community-based participatory research. The objective of this paper is to describe the process whereby stakeholders (fishers), were involved in directing and refining research questions to address their particular informational needs about mercury levels in fish, potential risks, and methods to maintain health, by balancing the risks and benefits of fish consumption. A range of stakeholders, mainly individual fishers, fishing organizations, and other scientists, were involved at nearly every stage. Community participants influenced many aspects of the design and implementation of the research, in the determination of which fish species to sample, in the collection of the samples, and in the final analyses and synthesis, as well as the communication of results and implications of the research through their fishing club publications, talks and gatherings. By involving the most interested and affected communities, the data and conclusions are relevant to their needs because the fish examined were those they ate and wanted information about, and directly address concerns about the risk from consuming self-caught fish. Although mercury levels in fish presumed to be high in mercury are known, little information was available to the fishermen on mercury levels in fish that were low and thus provided little risk to their families. While community participatory research is more time-consuming and expensive than traditional scientific research, both the process and results are better scientifically in terms of community relevance.
捕鱼和食用自捕鱼的个人会决定在哪里捕鱼、食用哪种鱼以及食用多少。联邦和州机构经常会对一些汞（Hg）浓度较高的鱼类发布消费建议，但很少向公众提供实际的金属含量，也没有确定哪些鱼类的污染物含量较低。参与式社区研究对于定义、研究和解决复杂的暴露和风险问题越来越重要，本文处于传统利益相关者方法和基于社区的参与式研究的交叉点。本文的目的是描述利益相关者（渔民）参与指导和完善研究问题的过程，以满足他们关于鱼类汞含量、潜在风险以及维持健康的方法的特定信息需求，同时平衡鱼类消费的风险和收益。一系列利益相关者，主要是个体渔民、渔业组织和其他科学家，几乎在每个阶段都参与其中。社区参与者影响了研究设计和实施的许多方面，包括确定要采样的鱼类物种、收集样本以及最终的分析和综合，以及通过他们的钓鱼俱乐部出版物、演讲和聚会来交流研究结果和影响。通过让最感兴趣和受影响的社区参与进来，数据和结论与他们的需求相关，因为所检查的鱼类是他们食用的鱼类，并且他们想了解有关这些鱼类的信息，直接解决了他们对食用自捕鱼的风险的担忧。尽管已知被认为汞含量较高的鱼类中的汞含量，但渔民对汞含量较低的鱼类的信息知之甚少，这对他们的家人几乎没有风险。虽然社区参与式研究比传统科学研究更耗时且昂贵，但从社区相关性的角度来看，研究过程和结果在科学上都更好。
