Proceedings 2007/057

National Science Workshop on "Critical Habitat and Recovery Potential Assessment Framework"; 27-30 August, 2007

Chairperson: Jake Rice

Summary

To facilitate the implementation of the Species at Risk Act (SARA), the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) organized a National Science Workshop on “Critical Habitat and Recovery Potential Assessment Framework”. The goals of the workshop were to provide guidance on best practices for describing and quantifying critical habitat for aquatic species and to further develop the National Framework on Recovery Potential Assessments (RPAs) for aquatic species that have been assessed as Threatened or Endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). These Proceedings summarize the main discussion points, recommendations, and conclusions of the meeting.

 Participants at the workshop included scientists from DFO&#8217:s Regions and representatives from other DFO Sectors responsible for fisheries management, policy, habitat and oceans management and the DFO SARA Secretariat. Representatives from Parks Canada Agency (PCA) and BC Ministry of Environment also attended.

 Numerous papers were presented on quantifying habitat quality, case studies on identifying critical habitat and regional and sector experiences in implementing the existing Recovery Potential Assessment (RPA) framework. Based on the papers presented and the subsequent discussions during the workshop, Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) Science Advisory Reports (SARs) were prepared on the Provision of Advice on Habitat Use and Quantification of Habitat Quality (DFO 2007/038) and on a Revised Protocol for Conducting Recovery Potential Assessments (DFO 2007/039). An Editorial Committee was established, with representatives from each region and each National Headquarters (NHQ) Sector, to ensure that the SARs reflected the deliberations and conclusions of the workshop.

Complete document (PDF, 580 KB)

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