The main pollutants found in the river are mercury and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), which have entered the river over the years from factory runoff and air pollution.

The city’s industrial legacy has left the Detroit River contaminated with harmful chemicals that may impact wildlife, fish, and humans who may eat them. The program reached nearly 1300 anglers at 21 locations on the Detroit River in 2020 - most of whom –73%– were eating the fish they caught, according to their surveys. The program, staffed by the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services, Wayne State University, and community volunteers, walks the Detroit River shoreline every year with one goal: To make sure people who fish the Detroit River are educated about health implications of consuming their catch. But the river bottom here is also a hot spot for pollutants that make their way into fish. On Detroit’s far east side, Mariner Park is a hot spot of activity for local fishers.

|Photo by Zaire Daniels.||Riverwalkers' Jim Bridgforth shares Eat Safe Fish information with a man at Mariners' Park on Detroit's wast side.

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