Proceedings 2011/029
Proceedings of a Regional Advisory Process to Review the Community Aquatic Monitoring Program (CAMP) and its Use to Infer the Ecological Health of Bays and Estuaries in the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence; March 17 and 18, 2010
Chairperson: Rod Morin
Rapporteur: Marie-Hélène Thériault
Summary
A regional DFO Science advisory meeting was held in Moncton, New Brunswick on March 17-18, 2010. The objectives of the meeting were: 1) to review the Community Aquatic Monitoring Program (CAMP) data collected from 2004 to 2008 for eleven ‘’core’’ sites, 2) to review watershed data on land use activities that may correlate with the CAMP data, 3) to review if the measured variation of the aquatic community is associated with the extent of land use impacts, 4) to identify gaps in CAMP and the land use assessment, if any, and 5) to make recommendations for further analyses and research. Preliminary analyses showed high variability in total abundance among the primary factors - Site, Station, Month and Year. The species assemblages from the eleven sites clustered in three groups, with sites characterized with more human activity having more mummichog and less shrimp and fourspine stickleback, than sites with less defined human activity. The preliminary analyses showed possible links could be made between the variation of the aquatic community and land use data. In conclusion, participants at the workshop expressed mixed opinion on the capacity of the program to infer ecological health of bays and estuaries. Some participants felt that more analysis of CAMP data and a review of the sampling design are required before the program's potential to infer environmental effects can be assessed. Recommendations to improve the program were made.
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