Terms of Reference

Application of the National Vulnerability Framework in the Maritimes Region

Regional Peer Review – Maritimes Region

November 22-24, 2021
Virtual Meeting

Chairperson: Tana Worcester

Context

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is committed to ensuring sustainable aquatic ecosystems. The development of a national framework for assessing vulnerability of aquatic ecosystems to ship-source oil spills in 2017 represented an important step toward meeting this commitment, and supported the organizational priority identified in the Report on Plans and Priorities by "Commencing the collection and analysis of science and marine ecosystems information and data as key supporting elements of the world class tanker system initiatives". In the Maritimes, the proposed regional application of the national framework may be used to identify the potential impacts of ship-source oil spills on aquatic ecosystems, as well as provide advice on the ability of ecosystems to recover from such impacts.

The National Framework developed a structured approach to identify ecological components most affected by a ship-source oil spill utilising a suite of criteria to assess vulnerability. This approach divides criteria into three categories: exposure, sensitivity, and recovery, each encompassing a number of criteria that were envisaged to be consistent and broad enough to be usable in multiple aquatic environments. In support of this, the framework has been adapted and applied in the Maritimes Region. If successful, the regional application of the framework will be useful in informing protection, prioritization, planning, and response operation efforts.

Objectives

The overarching objective of this Regional Advisory Process is to assess whether the proposed framework identifies scientifically defensible vulnerabilities in Maritimes Region aquatic ecosystems to ship-source oil spills.

Specific objectives of this Advisory Process are to:

• Determine if the proposed species groupings for assessing vulnerability to ship-source oil spills are appropriate;
• Determine if the criteria used to identify species groupings most affected by ship-source oil spills are complete and appropriate;
• Provide recommendations on approaches and methods to address knowledge and data gaps in the application of the criteria (i.e., how to characterize uncertainty); and,
• Provide recommendations on potential uses of this framework for assessment of ecological vulnerability to environmental stressors, and specifically to ship-source oil spills.

The following working paper will be reviewed to provide the basis for discussion and advice:

• Maritimes Regional application of the national framework for assessing the vulnerability of biological components to ship-source oil spills in the marine environment.

  Working Paper by T. Lander, Hamer A., Merritt, V., Jones, O., and Harvey, C.

Expected Publications

• Proceedings
• Research Document
• Science Advisory Report

Expected Participation

• DFO Science
• DFO Aquatic Ecosystems
• Environment and Climate Change Canada
• Canadian Coast Guard
• Provincial Representatives
• Indigenous communities / organizations
• Non-Government Organizations
• Academics

References

• DFO. 2017. A framework for assessing vulnerability of biological components to ship-source oil spills. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Advis. Rep. 2017/032.