DRCC Presents: Restrictions on Fish and Wildlife Consumption Open House

The open house will be held on Thursday March 26th, 2026 at 6:30pm to 9pm for an open house at the Ojibway Nature Centre (5200 Matchett Rd, Windsor, ON, N9C 4E8). Doors open at 6pm.

We want to know what you think about the recommendation by the Detroit River Canadian Cleanup to change the status of the Restrictions on Fish and Wildlife Consumption beneficial use impairment (BUI #1) from ‘impaired’ to ‘not impaired’ for fish.

Your input is valuable to us and is much appreciated.

The technical reports on which these recommendations are based and the factsheet associated with these reports will soon be available. This report will provide you with all information required to provide comments on the proposed redesignation.

Restriction on Fish and Wildlife Consumption:

The Restrictions on Fish and Wildlife Consumption BUI for the Detroit River is designated as impaired for fish. The main driver of this impairment is chemical contamination in the waters and sediment of the Detroit River. Researchers from the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER) at the University of Windsor have completed assessing this beneficial use.

They evaluated fish consumption advisories using the established delisting criteria for this BUI: “When consumption advisories for indicator fish species (e.g. walleye, brown bullhead, smallmouth bass and largemouth bass) given for the sensitive population in the AOC are similar to upstream and downstream non-AOC Great Lakes reference areas due to contaminants from locally-controllable sources”.

To evaluate this beneficial use, a four-tier hierarchical framework was used. At each tier, an unimpaired or impaired status is possible based on each assessment. Tier 1 assesses the presence of fish consumption restrictions within the AOC and whether they exceed a benchmark level of allowable meals per month. Tier 2 compares the degree of restrictiveness of fish consumption advisories in the AOC to multiple reference sites. Tier 3 compiles multiple lines of evidence to address whether past mitigation actions in the AOC have contributed to the improvement of fish consumption advisories over time. Tier 4 was added to provide an additional line of evidence that can be used to understand contaminant recovery in the AOC over time and address whether there is a need for additional, local restoration actions that can lead to further reductions in fish consumption advisories in the AOC.

The framework was applied to the four indicator species and based on the research findings of this study, there is no evidence to deem the status of the Restrictions on Fish and Wildlife Consumption BUI#1 as impaired, and a “not impaired” status is being recommended by the Detroit River Canadian Cleanup.

If you would like to review any of the technical resources in advance of the open house, please visit our website: https://detroitriver.ca/bui1consultation/

Can't attend the open house? Reach out to the DRCC team and we can follow up with resources from the event for your review. The public comment period will close on April 30, 2026.

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