Jennifer Denise Roberts, MPH, DrPH, Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Room W4106, Baltimore, MD 21205, 410-955-8678, jerobert@jhsph.edu

Fishing is heavily practiced in the state of Maryland, particularly in the Baltimore urban area. It has been hypothesized that this group of urban anglers is demographically different than the traditional anglers. Furthermore, it is proposed that the urban anglers consume higher quantities of fish and are less aware of the guidelines of the Maryland fish consumption advisories. This research compared a sample of interviewed urban anglers and the results of a mail questionnaire from a stratified sample of Maryland licensed anglers to determine if there were significant differences between these two groups and to determine which demographic variables would significantly predict their fish consumption and advisory awareness. Ethnically, the urban anglers were found to be more heterogeneous with nearly 40% of the anglers being African American. Contrastingly, the licensed anglers consisted of 89% White anglers and only 6% being African American. Among the urban anglers, when gender, education and age were controlled, it was identified that the odds of Blacks knowing about advisories was also 77% (OR= .23, p= 0.05) less than the odds of Whites knowing about advisories. It was also shown that the odds of female urban anglers consuming caught fish was nearly five times higher in comparison to males (OR= 5.11, p= 0.02). From these findings, it was determined that improvements should be implemented on the part of the Maryland regulators to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the risk communication process so that anglers could be more aware of the fish consumption advisories.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this session, the participants will have achieved (
• learning objectives. (
• Identify the under-recognized risks that urban anglers are subjected to due to the specific nature of urban environments and the health of urban waterway. (
• Evaluate the need for improved risk communication methods among vulnerable populations. (
• Apply the findings of this research on Baltimore urban anglers to anglers in other urban areas.

Awards: Student Achievement Award - Recipient

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.