22 January 2013 – The Sierra Fund’s Science Director Dr. Carrie Monohan and CEO Elizabeth “Izzy “ Martin were invited to speak at the Bioaccumulation Oversight Group (BOG) symposium at the California Department of Public Health in Richmond last month. The BOG is charged with coordinating monitoring, assessment, and communication of information relating to bioaccumulation in California.
The BOG featured a series of speakers providing an overview of various aspects of the bioaccumulation problem in California water bodies. The presentations summarized the latest information on statewide surveys of sport fish, accumulation in humans, risks to wildlife, contaminants of emerging concern, the new statewide mercury program, studies of mercury in reservoirs, consumption advisories, and efforts to communicate consumption advice to fish consumers. This meeting will set the stage for subsequent BOG meetings aimed at coordinating work in all of these areas.
The Sierra Fund was one of two non-profit organizations invited to speak at this event, which was attended by scientists from throughout the state. Izzy Martin provided an overview of The Sierra Fund’s Mining Initiative and spoke about the need to focus new state and federal resources on preventing human and ecosystem contamination by legacy mining toxins, especially mercury. Dr. Monohan presented the results of The Sierra Fund’s Gold Country Angler Survey. This report, published in 2011, included information and data analysis from more than 150 surveys of people fishing in Sierra water bodies. The full report can be seen at: https://sierrafund.org/mining/Gold_Country_Angler_Survey.pdf
The symposium was sponsored by the The California Water Quality Monitoring Council which includes organizations such as the San Francisco Estuary Institute and the California Department of Public Health. More information on the event is here: http://www.sfei.org/calendar_events/Symposium
