# Living and Eating in Intertidal Nature: Community-driven shellfish consumption evaluation

> **NIH NIH P01** · SITKA TRIBE OF ALASKA · 2024 · $120,564

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY – PROJECT 3
Project 3 aims to evaluate community shellfish harvesting and consumption patterns and risk perceptions
around PSP to develop community-specific risk profiles. In our first aim, we use in-depth interviews of
community members involved in subsistence shellfish harvesting in five small Gulf of Alaska communities to
assess perceptions of local and regional health risks with respect to PSP. This highly localized data may serve
a critical need that is overlooked and excluded from current regulatory approaches to PSP health protection in
the region. In our second aim, we develop and deploy a mix-mode (mail and web) population survey to assess
the prevalence of lifetime PSP in selected Alaskan boroughs, along with demographic and cultural correlates of
behavioral and dietary intentions associated with PSP risk. Survey items will be informed by aim 1 formative
research as well as established instruments, and research themes identified by Tribal stakeholders as crucial
for understanding the cumulative risk that communities face from toxin exposures. In our third aim, we
develop and execute probabilistic health risk models based on shellfish and consumption distributions to better
inform communities as to the possible risk profiles in areas where subsistence harvesting and consumption is
common, especially outside of commercial sites. These models will incorporate community-specific parameters
informed by aims 1 and 2 to tailor assessments and risk evaluations, and models will include climate and water
quality parameters to facilitate the development of predictive, tailored risk evaluations.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10733893
- **Project number:** 1P01ES035551-01
- **Recipient organization:** SITKA TRIBE OF ALASKA
- **Principal Investigator:** Jeffrey Kirk Wickliffe
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $120,564
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-03-20 → 2029-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10733893

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10733893, Living and Eating in Intertidal Nature: Community-driven shellfish consumption evaluation (1P01ES035551-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10733893. Licensed CC0.

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