Fish Mercury Datalayer for Canada (FIDMAC)

The FIMDAC represents a model-derived output of Hg concentrations in a common indicator species (12-cm whole-yellow perch), established from the application of the United States Geological Survey's (USGS) National Descriptive Model of Mercury in Fish (NDMMF, Wente 2004) to the Canadian Fish Mercury Database (CFMD, Depew et al. 2013b). The geographical distribution of yellow perch is wide-ranging, and they represent an important prey species for piscivorous fish, birds, and mammals.

Parameters estimated by way of NDMMF were unbiased, and strong spatial biases in prediction error were not evident. The FIMDAC records represent the estimated Hg burden (ug.g, wet weight) for a standard length (12 cm) whole-yellow perch at 1936 unique freshwater sites across Canada, collected between 1990 and 2010. Further details regarding the development of the FIMDAC can be found in Depew et al. (2013a).