Advice

Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat — 2009–2010 Overview

The Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat coordinates the departmental science advisory process in collaboration with the regional Centres for Science Advice. This network is responsible for maintaining high standards of excellence in the provision of peer-reviewed scientific information and advice that supports sound decision-making at Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

During 2009–2010, 111 peer-review advisory meetings and workshops were conducted and 284 publications were produced, including science advisory reports, research documents, proceedings and science responses. In addition to 59 stock assessments, these publications covered a broad range of issues including:

• advisory reports of key interest on Fraser River Sockeye Salmon, Snow Crab in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, Narwhal, Beluga, Harp Seals as well as cod off the south coast of the island of Newfoundland in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization 3Ps cod stock zone;
• mitigating impacts of seismic sound on marine mammals;
• a national framework for rapid response to aquatic invasive species;
• science advice on the development of a network of marine protected areas;
• ocean fertilization, a geo-engineering approach to mitigating climate change;
• impacts of at-sea disposal of dredged sediment material on the critical habitats of killer whales;
• pathways of effects for aquaculture; and
• the impacts of fishing gears on marine habitats and aquatic communities.

Two meetings covered departmental responsibilities under the Species at Risk Act to provide peer-reviewed information to the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada to assess the status of aquatic species. In addition, recovery potential assessments were held for 20 species that have been designated Endangered or Threatened by the committee.

The secretariat also continued to implement a risk-based framework to prioritize peer-review meetings to ensure that needed science advice is provided in a timely manner. Published advice and the calendar of the secretariat’s advisory activities are available at http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/index-eng.htm.

Environmental Impacts of Aquaculture — Assessing Pathways of Effects

In an effort to establish a consistent national approach to identifying, assessing and managing the environmental risks of finfish and shellfish aquaculture, Fisheries and Oceans Canada is collaborating with other federal, provincial and territorial governments to develop a national Framework for Aquaculture Environmental Management. Toward this goal, scientists in the Department developed seven “pathways of effects” research documents and diagrams, which map the potential stresses of various finfish and shellfish aquaculture activities on the environment, and the potential effects of those stressors on different components of the ecosystem.

Each research document focuses on a different stressor related to aquaculture activities including: chemicals used by the aquaculture industry, escaped aquaculture organisms, light, noise, nutrients, pathogens and the physical structure of aquaculture operations. Each stressor is associated with key components of aquatic ecosystems (fish habitat, water quality, fish health and fish communities) that are relevant to government regulators.

In October 2009, a Canadian Science Advisory Science meeting was held to peer review the draft stressor papers and diagrams. The final research documents will inform the development of the framework and policy documents, which will be used by government regulators responsible for managing aquaculture. The peer-review process also identified research needs and knowledge gaps, which is aiding in the development of research priorities for the Fisheries and Oceans Canada Program for Aquaculture Regulatory Research and the Aquaculture Collaborative Research and Development Program.

For more information about the meeting or to view the Proceedings, Science Advisory Report and research documents for the meeting, go to: http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/advice-avis/index-eng.html

Studies Probe Risks of PCB Contamination off the West and East Coasts

Fisheries and Oceans Canada is at the forefront of efforts to understand the threats to British Columbia’s southern resident killer whales, listed as Endangered under the Species at Risk Act. In 2010, federal researchers from the Institute of Ocean Sciences, the Pacific Biological Station, and Simon Fraser and Trent universities joined forces to study how polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in materials disposed in the ocean affect the whales.

The Canadian Environmental Protection Act governs the disposal-at-sea of permitted materials — mostly from dredging operations — at specific marine sites. While these materials are assessed for PCBs and other contaminants, the screening was not designed to protect species high on the food web, such as killer whales. Five ocean disposal sites are located in critical habitat for southern and northern resident killer whales.

Findings of the study confirmed that killer whales are particularly vulnerable to PCB contamination because of their high position on the food chain, long lifespan and inability to metabolize the chemical compound. As a result, a series of recommendations was made to improve decision-making on ocean disposal practices that will reduce PCB concentrations in killer whale habitat and reduce the uptake of this chemical compound by killer whales over time. Lessons learned from this research will provide guidance on emerging chemical concerns, such as for the flame retardant polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE).

PCB contamination is also the focus of a study undertaken in the summer of 2009 along the coastline of Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec. In 1970, the Irving Whale barge sank in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, spilling its cargo of fuel oil, some of which washed up on the northwestern shores of Îles-de-la-Madeleine. During cleanup efforts, the oil, which had solidified into a tar-like substance, was bagged and buried in the surrounding dunes. In 1996, it was discovered that the fuel oil contained PCBs.

In their study, Michel Lebeuf of the Maurice Lamontagne Institute and Marie Chagnon of the Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine Health and Social Services Agency assessed whether the buried bags of fuel oil are contaminating the environment with PCBs. Samples of surface sediments and marine organisms, including Rock Crab, Blue Mussels, Atlantic Surf Clams and Razor Clams, were collected at five coastal sites. Results showed no significant difference in PCB concentrations in samples gathered at test and control sites, indicating that the oil is not an identifiable source of PCB contamination.

Whale Watching — Monitoring the Beluga Population of the St. Lawrence

In line with the St. Lawrence Plan for Sustainable Development, Fisheries and Oceans Canada takes stock of the beluga population in the St. Lawrence Estuary at regular intervals. In 2009, teams from the Maurice Lamontagne Institute published its second fact sheet on the monitoring of this population, which is designated as Threatened.

The St. Lawrence beluga population is estimated at around 1,100 individuals and has remained stable for the past 20 years. This estimate is based on a population model that incorporates abundance estimates derived from a series of photographic surveys carried out between 1988 and 2003, and the results of a Fisheries and Oceans Canada carcass monitoring program that began in 1982.

Analyzing beached carcasses helps provide clues about mortality. With the help of the St. Lawrence National Institute of Ecotoxicology, the carcasses are sampled on the beach or transported to the faculty of veterinary medicine at the Université de Montréal. This collaboration has helped categorize the cause of death for 148 individuals. Infectious diseases have caused 38 per cent of beluga deaths, while 15 per cent of these animals died from terminal neoplasia (cancer) and nearly 30 per cent from unknown causes.

The beluga carcass samples have also been analyzed to identify the accumulation of contaminants, such as persistent organic pollutants from human activity (PCBs, DDT, Mirex, PBDEs). The level of pollutants measured in the carcasses remains high and is becoming more diverse. Some contaminants have been reduced or remained stable while others have increased. This suggests that the risk of toxic effects on the population has not diminished over the years. Furthermore, the number of belugas has not increased. The reasons why the St. Lawrence population has not shown any significant growth or recovery have not yet been determined.

Integrating all data available on the beluga will provide, over the long term, a clear sense of what research and management approaches are needed to better protect this marine mammal.

Exploring the Effects of Seismic Sound on Salmon and Shellfish

Research led by Dr. Jerry Payne, with the assistance of Catherine Andrews of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Centre in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, is addressing a known gap in knowledge about the impact of seismic sound on marine organisms. Seismic surveys are used in the search for new oil and gas deposits and involve the deployment of an array of airguns from a survey vessel. Over a 24-hour period, the airguns can produce thousands of intense-sounding shots. A considerable amount of survey work is being carried out in Atlantic Canada, particularly in waters around Newfoundland and Labrador on this subject.

Dr. Payne is exploring the potential of seismic surveys to produce important sub-lethal effects (stress) in fish and shellfish. One key study explored a question by the fishing industry about the potential for seismic surveys to affect the movement of lobsters and Snow Crabs. The findings established that exposure of these commercially important shellfish to airgun discharges did not cause them to move; however, there are also concerns about potential damage to the organs of fish and shellfish as well as the ears of fish.

In collaboration with Dr. Matthew Rise of Memorial University, Catherine Andrews initiated exploratory studies on the impact of seismic sound on gene expression in the ears of salmon. Genes — hereditary units consisting of sequences of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid or genetic code) — provide direction for cellular structure and function. This laboratory study established that sound produced during seismic surveys has the potential to alter large numbers of genes in the ears of salmon, including those related to cell metabolism, programmed cell death, oxidative stress,* immune response and sensory perception.

The findings of ongoing research on this issue will help guide the Department’s Habitat Management Program, which has responsibility for providing advice to the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board. There are currently no restrictions on seismic use in the world’s oceans. There are general guidelines that recommend avoiding spawning areas for marine mammals at specific times; however, no such guidelines exist for fish or shellfish.

* Oxidative stress occurs at the cellular level and is a by-product of metabolism. It refers to the production of free radicals (electronically unstable atoms or molecules) that can have negative impacts on an organism’s health, especially when combined with other environmental stressors.

Collaborative Research with Industry on the 4WX Herring Stock

Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Maritimes herring industry have a long history of collaboration on stock assessment and related research. Currently, six collaborative agreements cover data collection and research to address priority issues identified by both the Department and the fishing industry. These agreements focus on a number of activities, including:

• surveying herring spawning grounds using commercial fishing vessels to estimate biomass;
• collecting length frequency data and biological samples from landings at major processing plants in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to determine fish size and age of the catch; and
• conducting scientific research in support of the assessment of the herring stock in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization 4WX herring fishing zone. This stock is located in the Bay of Fundy, southwest Nova Scotia and on the Scotia Shelf.

Scientists use acoustics, the scientific study of sound, to survey fish populations. In 2008–2009, the Department and the herring industry jointly funded a three-year target strength study to better understand acoustic scattering from a single fish — how much sound energy is reflected when it hits a fish — to provide a better estimate of herring biomass. The funding was also used to purchase new, state-of-the-art scientific echo sounders and sonar acoustic equipment. Findings of this research will contribute to improved estimates of spawning stock biomass. Additional co-funding in 2009–2010 is being used to determine if spawning herring are being missed or double-counted during surveys, and to examine acoustic blind spots using alternative technology such as underwater cameras and sonar to determine herring biomass in these zones.

Other collaborative research includes the development of a juvenile herring index of abundance, based on acoustic estimates of fish numbers, and an investigation of herring migration patterns and linkages to other stocks using the tagging data from the last 15 years. All studies are scheduled to be completed by March 2012 and should make a significant contribution to knowledge of herring, and improve industry-based acoustic surveys and the 4WX herring stock assessment.

The Precautionary Approach and Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence Snow Crab

The Snow Crab (Chionoecetes opilio) fishery in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence is a high-value resource that has been commercially fished since the mid-1960s. This fishery grew quickly, peaking at 33,400 tonnes (t) in 1982 and declining to a low of 8,900 t in 1990. Landings have fluctuated since with a recent peak in 2005 of 36,200 t.

As a signatory to the United Nations Agreement on Straddling and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, Canada has committed to manage stocks using the precautionary approach. This approach entails being cautious when scientific information is uncertain, unreliable or inadequate, and not using the absence of adequate scientific information as a reason to postpone or fail to take action to avoid serious harm to the resource.

To be compliant with this approach, fishery management plans should include harvest strategies that incorporate a minimum abundance of animals to be maintained (Limit Reference Point that defines the critical/cautious zones) and a higher abundance of animals (Upper Stock Reference that delimits the cautious/healthy zones) for the greatest socio-economic benefit while minimizing risk to the resource. Management plans should also define the maximum proportion of the abundance that can be removed annually (Removal Reference) when the stock is in the healthy zone.

Guided by the recently published policy on the precautionary approach for fisheries from the Department (A Fishery Decision-making Framework Incorporating the Precautionary Approach), a scientific peer review was conducted in February 2010 to define biological reference points specifically for the Snow Crab stock in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. A risk analysis framework was also developed to evaluate catch options relative to these reference points and to assess management scenarios consistent with the approach.

Producing biological reference points for the southern Gulf Snow Crab stock was a first for crab fisheries in Canada. This progress was possible due to the availability of a multi-decade and robust fishery-independent survey and an extensive fishery monitoring program conducted by the Department in the region.

Modeling Ditch Maintenance Scenarios to Reduce Risk to Spawning Grass Pickerel

In the Niagara region of Ontario, researchers are exploring the potential impacts of agricultural drainage ditch maintenance on Grass Pickerel, which is listed as a species of Special Concern by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. The ditches are prone to sediment build-up, causing water to back up onto nearby flood plains and providing spawning habitat for pickerel in the spring. Drainage ditch maintenance usually involves removing sediment, reducing the extent of flooding and spawning habitat. In such marshy food webs, the adults prey on other fish while young Grass Pickerel prey on wetland insects.

To determine the potential impact of less flooding on pickerel populations, the research team tagged more than 1,800 individuals to gather data on population size, habitat use and seasonal movements. This information will be incorporated into a computer model to determine the relationship between population size and habitat availability, as well as the effects of different drain maintenance scenarios. Project partners will then implement the best maintenance approach and monitor pickerel populations to validate the accuracy of the model. Eventually, the model may be used to manage other populations of Grass Pickerel and ditch-dwelling fish across Canada. This cooperative project also involves Ontario government agencies and a broad range of partners in the Niagara region including conservation groups and private land owners.

 

Geomatics to the Rescue of the American Eel

The American Eel population in North America has The American Eel population in North America has fallen sharply over the last 30 years, particularly in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River basin. Researchers have not conclusively determined the causes of the decline, but the loss of freshwater habitats and low spawning escapement — the limited numbers of eels that are able to return to the ocean to spawn — are among several key factors. Dams and other obstacles built on watercourses block the passage of young eels swimming to growing sites upstream and hydroelectric dam turbines kill a large proportion of mature adults from certain watersheds as they make their way to breeding sites in the Sargasso Sea region of the Atlantic Ocean. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada has classified the American Eel as a species of Special Concern.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, in collaboration with the Ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune du Québec and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, has created a geographic information system to help managers locate dams, assess their impact on migration and determine the surface area of stream and lake habitats available in the watershed below and above each obstacle. The tool will help them identify and prioritize where migratory passes should be built. It is currently in development and pilot projects are being conducted on three rivers: one in Quebec, one in Ontario and another in the Maritimes. It will soon be extended to other watersheds and adapted to other migratory fish species.

Federal researchers are collaborating with provincial and industry partners on two experimental projects, including a large-scale conservation stocking initiative involving the transplant of more than four million American eels in their ‘glass stage’ from rivers in the Maritimes into Lake Ontario since 2006. The second initiative is a trap-and-transport project involving the purchase of large eels from commercial fishermen from areas located above hydroelectric dams and their transport downstream to eliminate the risk of turbine mortality. Both experiments have been successful so far. Stocked American Eels have survived, dispersed and are growing rapidly, while transported yellow eels have sexually matured, initiated their spawning migration and are physiologically indistinguishable from eels that migrated naturally.

 

Project to Restore the Bay of Quinte in Lake Ontario Enters 40^th Year

Situated at the northeast end of Lake Ontario, the Bay of Quinte is the site of a long-term research and monitoring program known as Project Quinte. This multi-agency program was initiated in 1972 to examine the effects of phosphorus control in an ecosystem affected by eutrophication — alteration to the physical, chemical and biological environment due to the water becoming enriched with dissolved nutrients such as phosphates. This condition typically stimulates the growth of aquatic plant life resulting in reduced levels of dissolved oxygen. In the mid-1980s, the Bay of Quinte was identified as a Great Lakes Area of Concern by the International Joint Commission.

Project Quinte partners include Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment Canada, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and local universities. Since the project began, the bay has experienced reduced nutrient loads, climatic events that changed the dominance of fish species, multiple invasions by non-native species, a resurgence of aquatic plants and increasing annual temperatures.

Throughout these changes, Fisheries and Oceans Canada has conducted research on all parts of the Bay of Quinte ecosystem, including on nutrient levels, the microbial food web, community composition, and the abundance and production of phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthic invertebrates and fishes. The long-term data collected in this bay represents some of the most valuable, continuously collected data anywhere in the Great Lakes, and has served as the basis for the development of an ecosystem approach to managing and restoring the Bay of Quinte.

In 2010, a symposium on the Ecosystem Health and Recovery of the Bay of Quinte was convened at the 53^rd Annual Conference on Great Lakes Research at the University of Toronto. As Project Quinte enters its 40^th year, a collection of papers from the 2010 symposium on the Bay of Quinte research is being published in two special issues of the journal Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management (Vol. 14, Issues 1 and 4).

Restoring Aquatic Habitat in the Greater Toronto Area

Toronto and the surrounding region were designated a Great Lakes Area of Concern by the International Joint Commission in 1985 partly due to their impaired fish and wildlife habitats and populations. Such designated areas are locations where environmental quality has been degraded compared with other areas in the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem.

In an effort to restore environmental and habitat quality in coastal areas of the Toronto and Region Area of Concern, researchers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada are collaborating in a multi-agency initiative (Aquatic Habitat Toronto) to study area- and ecosystem-based approaches to habitat compensation (how to compensate for altered, disrupted or destroyed habitat) and restoration.

Scientists at the Department’s Great Lakes Laboratory for Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences in Burlington, Ontario, are providing expertise and conducting research to provide targeted advice and tools for habitat decision-makers. Federal, provincial and municipal partner agencies are working together to develop whole system, area-based, best management practices. These will help scientists and managers quantify and implement habitat targets, such as for water quality improvements or wetland reconstruction, which will ultimately lead to delisting of the Toronto Region as an Area of Concern.

In collaboration with other partner agencies, the Department’s activities include:

• comparing temperature and the accessibility of coastal bays with early growth and survival in fish populations;
• studying constructed bays of different ages for their effectiveness as restored habitats;
• producing guidance documents for habitat restoration based on local fish community needs;
• using bottom trawling and acoustic surveys to examine fish depth and habitat distributions;
• using numerical models to compare habitat supply between Toronto Region, other Areas of Concern, and reference areas in Lake Ontario as a quantitative tool for delisting the area;
• using quantitative tools to ensure no net loss of habitat for compensation and restoration projects;
• compiling spatial information about habitats into a geographic information system;
• creating a conceptual framework for implementing ecosystem-based habitat management in the area; and
• using acoustic telemetry to track pre- and post-habitat construction movements and seasonal habitat usage of three fish species: Northern Pike, Largemouth Bass and the Common Carp.