Assessing Maine Hunters Behavior in the time of PFAS

Sponsor: Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Department (MDIFW)

White tailed deer

Project Team:

  • Caroline Noblet, Associate Professor, School of Economics, Mitchell Center Faculty Fellow
  • Dianne Kopec, Adjunct Faculty, Dept. of Wildlife, Fisheries and Conservation Biology; Mitchell Center Faculty Fellow
  • Molly Shea, Graduate Student, School of Economics

The purpose of this project is to assess how the behaviors of Maine hunters may change due to concerns regarding the presence of environmental contaminants such as PFAS in wildlife. The team will survey hunters who hold a Maine hunting license (residents and non-residents) to assess their current knowledge and concerns about contaminants in wildlife, as well as test the effectiveness of messages associated with hunting advisories. Information on changes to hunting and consumption behaviors over time, across different hunter populations (recreational vs. sustenance, game birds vs. deer, etc.), would also be collected. This survey effort will link hunters’ with information on their catch through collaboration with another UMaine research team undertaking targeting testing of blood samples of game.