Terms of Reference

An Integrated Ecosystem Assessment Framework for Assessing the Proposed St Anns Bank Marine Protected Area (MPA), Scotian Shelf

Regional Peer Review – Maritimes Region

March 29-30, 2016
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

Chairperson: Tana Worcester

Context

In support of DFO’s Marine Protected Areas (MPA) program, DFO Science has been developing monitoring indicators, protocols, and strategies for assessing whether individual Oceans Act MPAs are meeting their conservation objectives. In the Maritimes Region, monitoring plans that include these elements have been prepared for both the existing Gully and Musquash MPAs, and a monitoring framework has been developed for the proposed St Anns Bank MPA (Kenchington 2014; DFO 2012; DFO 2014).

Under DFO’s National Conservation Plan initiative (2014-2019), DFO Maritimes Science is continuing to advance work on the effective monitoring of MPAs by developing a systematic, integrated, and holistic approach to assessing monitoring data and determining the effectiveness of MPAs within a broader regional context.

This regional peer review process is being held to evaluate a proposed Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) framework that could be used to monitor the status of MPAs and assess the effectiveness of an MPA in meeting its conservation objectives within a regional context.  The focus of this meeting will be to review the proposed IEA approach, to review the data that have been selected for the application of the approach to the proposed St Anns Bank AOI, to identify gaps and sources of uncertainty, and to discuss next steps in the development of the approach.

Objectives

The objectives of this meeting are:

• To review the overall approach of using IEA to assess the status and effectiveness of MPAs in a regional context.
• To review the data selected for inclusion in this assessment, including a review of the selection criteria.   
• To review the methods and assumptions associated with the filtering and integration of this data into the assessment 
• To preview some preliminary results of the analysis in relation to St Anns Bank.  
• To provide recommendations on next steps in the development of the IEA approach.

Pending the results of this meeting, it is expected that an additional meeting(s) will be required to review the results of the assessment and apply the approach to other areas of the Maritimes Region.

Expected Publications

• Proceedings
• Research Document

Participation

• DFO Science
• DFO Ecosystem Management
• DFO Resource Management
• Other invited experts

Reference

DFO. 2012.  Conservation Priorities, Objectives, and Ecosystem Assessment Approach for the St Anns Bank Area of Interest (AOI). DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Advis. Rep. 2012/034.

DFO. 2014. Review of a Monitoring Framework for the St. Anns Bank Area of Interest. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Resp. 2013/028.

Kenchington, T.J. 2014. A Monitoring Framework for the St. Anns Bank Area of Interest. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Res. Doc. 2013/117. vi + 77 p.