EGLE’s fish contaminant monitoring program staff collects fish during the winter months to expand year-round monitoring for PFAS

Over the past five years, the staff in Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s (EGLE) Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program (FCMP) has collected over twice as many fish samples from over twice as many locations to monitor the edible portion of fish, compared to the previous five-year period. This includes collecting fish during the winter months.  In 2025, the FCMP submitted 2,143 fish samples from 134 locations to the laboratory for contaminant testing, in comparison to the 1,170 samples from 73 locations that were submitted in 2020.

The expansion is the result of an increase in the demand for PFAS testing.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – also known as “forever chemicals” – continue to present some of the biggest challenges in chemical contamination across the world. States throughout the nation, including the Great Lakes region, are finding PFAS contamination in a growing number of locations where these persistent chemicals pose a threat to human health and the environment.

“The Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program staff collects fish from between 10 and 15 locations each winter by taking advantage of safe ice conditions to get out on lakes where sampling with summer gear is not as efficient,” said Brandon Armstrong, EGLE’s FCMP coordinator.

“Traditional methods for collecting fish – electrofishing and gillnetting -- are not always the best collection method to meet the needs of the program,” Armstrong added. “Around 2010, the program started to incorporate hook-and-line methods routinely into assessments. This was in response to the need to collect fish from Clark’s Marsh near Oscoda, close to the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base, which is inaccessible by boat.”