Environmental monitoring provides crucial data for describing the condition of the environment and for assessing the effectiveness of pollution control activities. EPA has been collecting and analyzing fish tissue for contaminants since the 1990s. EPA collaborates with federal agencies, states, tribes, and other partners to conduct freshwater fish contamination studies. Several of the studies are part of a series of statistically based surveys to produce information on the condition of lakes, streams, rivers, and coastal waters in the United States. These studies provide data on the concentrations and frequency of occurrence of a variety of chemicals that are found in fish tissue.

• National Rivers and Streams Assessment (NRSA) Fish Tissue Studies
• National Coastal Condition Assessment (NCCA) Great Lakes Human Health Fish Tissue Studies
• National Study of Chemical Residues in Lake Fish Tissue (National Lake Fish Tissue Study)
• Targeted EPA Fish Tissue Contamination Studies