Proceedings 2012/001

Proceedings of the National Peer Review Meeting on the SARA Population and Distribution Objectives; 29-30 October, 2009

Chairpersons: K. Smedbol and S. Nadeau

Summary

The meeting on recovery population and distribution objectives was held in Ottawa on October 29-30, 2009. The meeting was attended by DFO science experts from all regions, as well as representatives from various DFO programs and sectors, including species at risk, habitat management, Fisheries Management, policy and economics, and legal counsel, and representatives from Environment Canada and Parks Canada Agency.

Given the spectrum of what could constitute recovery identified in the 2005 CSAS Recovery Target workshop, the lack of consensus achieved back then, and given that DFO has considerably more experience now in implementing SARA, it was agreed that it was time to look again at the guidance on setting population and distribution objectives within the context of RPAs and recovery strategies.

The objectives of the meeting were:

1. To review what can guide the development of recovery target and population and distribution objectives within the SARA context;
2. To review recovery targets and population and distribution objectives in existing RPAs and published recovery strategies and categorize them with regards to the approach selected;
3. To document the requirements, constraints and practices of all DFO clients (Resource Management, Habitat Management, Policy, SARA coordination, SARA Recovery Planning), Environment Canada and Parks Canada Agency with regards to recovery targets and population and distribution objectives; and
4. To review and update the 2005/054 Recovery Target guidelines and refine guidance as appropriate.

After a general overview of the CSAS process and roundtable introductions, presentations were delivered by Oceans, Habitat and Species at Risk, Policy and Economics, Resource Management, Environment Canada and Parks Canada illustrating their perspectives on the issue of setting population and distribution recovery objectives. A summary of approaches used for the setting of these objectives within Recovery Potential Assessments and Recovery strategies was provided by DFO science, as well as what could constitute minimum recovery target from a legal standpoint. After presentation of potential approaches for setting population and distribution objectives for data-poor and data-rich species, the rest of the meeting was focused on developing consensus on additional guidance on the matter, using, as a starting point, a discussion document sent to all participants ahead of the meeting. Consensus was reached on a number of elements of guidance captured in a science advisory report (CSAS 2010/061).

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