Taku River Tlinget First Nation Traditional Foods Contaminant Monitoring Program

Traditional foods are an important source of nutrition and have spiritual, social, and cultural significance for the Taku River Tlingit First Nation (TRTFN). The NCP blueprint for community-based monitoring has identified the need to monitor contaminants in traditional foods that may pose a risk to human health and for which recent contaminant information is not available. This project focuses only on species that are dietary staples for the Taku River Tlingit (TRT). To date, there has been no contaminants research within TRT traditional territory despite that the area is ecologically linked to Yukon, with Atlin Lake being the largest source of the Yukon River Watershed. However, there has been substantial research on contaminants within the Yukon portion of the Watershed. Heavy metals such as mercury, lead, and cadmium have been identified in the NCP blueprint for annual community-based monitoring. Past research found that some moose in Yukon had high renal cadmium levels. As a result, Yukon Health has recommended limiting consumption of Yukon moose kidneys and livers to one/person/year. The Yukon Contaminants Committee has identified the need for information on mercury concentrations in predatory fish species (e.g. lake trout) from lakes and rivers throughout the Territory where these fish are commonly harvested. Mercury in northern fish can pose human health concerns. Mercury levels in lake trout have been monitored for over twenty years in Yukon (Kusawa Lake and Lake Laberge) and results from this study will complement this already existing data set for lake trout in the north.