Terms of Reference

Science Guidance for Fisheries Protection Policy: Advice on Developing and Reviewing Offsetting Requirements

National Peer Review - National Capital Region

November 25-26, 2014
Ottawa, Ontario

Chairperson: Dr. Jake Rice

Context

In November 2013, amendments to the Fisheries Protection Provisions (FPP) of the Fisheries Act (FA) came into force. These amendments included Section 6 (s.6), which outlines four factors that the Minister must consider before authorizing a project that has the potential to cause serious harm to fish. Specifically, the Minister must consider the measures and standards to avoid, mitigate or offset serious harm to fish that are part of or support a commercial, recreational or Aboriginal fishery. In addition, the proponent must include an offsetting plan as regulatory requirement when submitting an application for authorization (Applications for Authorization under the FA). This offsetting plan must include the objective, the measures, and an analysis, using scientifically defensible and clearly described methods on how the measure(s) will meet the offsetting objective. The offsetting plan must also outline a monitoring plan that assesses the effectiveness of the offset.

The Fisheries Productivity Investment Policy: A Proponent’s Guide to Offsetting (aka the offsetting policy), was also made public in November 2013. The offsetting policy offers flexibility in choosing offset methods provided that increases in fisheries productivity are achieved and that the four key principles outlined in the policy are met. One of these principles is “balancing losses and gains” between impacts of development projects and the expected gains in productivity from offsetting projects. While the policy notes that achieving such equivalency may be easier to demonstrate when offsets are designed to provide similar function to the affected habitat, it does not clearly describe acceptable methods for calculating losses and gains.

Four main steps to determine acceptable offset(s):

1. Assessment of impact,
2. Choice of offset type,
3. Calculation of offset amount, and
4. Evaluation of offset effectiveness.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Ecosystems and Fisheries Management has requested scientific advice towards the implementation of the offsetting policy and the associated amendments to the FA. The intention is to use this science advice to support the development of additional guidance on offsetting (e.g., calculation of losses and gains) that could aid proponents in the development of their offsetting plans and associated monitoring requirements, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) when assessing proponent submissions.

Objectives

The current request for advice is to:

• consolidate and integrate existing science advice related to the FPP through the lens of offsetting impacts to fisheries productivity
• provide detailed advice on acceptable methods to calculate offset requirements including key considerations and assumptions on:
  • the prediction of benefits from proposed offset projects (i.e., identification of baseline for both impact and offset sites, predicted loss at impact site, and predicted gain at offset site).
  • the calculation of equivalency between impact and offset when they are unlike (e.g., focus on different types of habitat and fish species). Key aspects would be to advise how to choose an appropriate common currency and how to ensure that offsetting measures balance project impacts.

Expected Publications

• Science Advisory Report
• Proceedings
• Research Document

Participation

• Fisheries and Oceans Canada (e.g., Ecosystems and Oceans Science and Ecosystems and Fisheries Management)
• Academia or Academics
• Industry
• Other invited experts (e.g., environmental non-government organizations and consultants)

References

DFO Science has already provided the following advice and associated research technical documents to support the implementation of the new FPP:

Assessing impacts on productivity

DFO. 2013. Science Advice to Support Development of a Fisheries Protection Policy for Canada. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Advis. Rep. 2012/063.

DFO. 2014. A Science-Based Framework for Assessing the Response of Fisheries Productivity to State of Species or Habitats. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Advis. Rep. 2013/067.

DFO. 2014. A science-based framework for assessing changes in productivity, within the context of the amended Fisheries Act. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Advis. Rep. 2013/071. 

Choosing types of offset strategies

DFO. 2014. Science Advice on Offsetting Techniques for Managing the Productivity of Freshwater Fisheries. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Advis. Rep. 2013/074.

High level advice on calculation of offset amount

DFO. 2014. Science Advice for Managing Risk and Uncertainty in Operational Decisions of the Fisheries Protection Program. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Advis. Rep. 2014/015.

Guidance on monitoring for effectiveness

DFO. 2012. Assessing the Effectiveness of Fish Habitat Compensation Activities in Canada: Monitoring Design and Metrics. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Advis. Rep. 2012/060.