Research Document - 2013/133
Recovery Potential Assessment for the American Eel (Anguilla rostrata) for eastern Canada: mitigation options
By G. Chaput, D.K. Cairns, S. Bastien-Daigle, C. LeBlanc, L. Robichaud, J. Turple, and C. Girard
Abstract
This document addresses the Terms of Reference for the Recovery Potential Assessment associated with mitigation options for the threats to American Eel which were considered to be of medium or high level of concern. Mitigation options or alternatives to the activities are described and the contribution of these to recovery potential of American Eel are assessed. Commercial fisheries and threats associated with physical obstructions have clearly identifiable mitigation options and quantifiable potential for recovery. Habitat alteration threats can be managed with operational statements and mitigation options are defined in pathways of effects analyses for those activities not defined in operational statements. The threat of introduction and spread of the swim bladder parasite could be mitigated with existing policies on ballast water transfer and with established introductions and transfers oversight. The threats associated with ecosystem changes primarily due to non-native species invasions are more easily prevented than rectified once the species are established. Although climate variation is not considered a threat as such, low recruitment to Lake Ontario and the upper St. Lawrence River possibly associated with unfavourable oceanic conditions in the Atlantic Ocean may be offset by directed stocking programs of young life stages of eels from regions with abundant recruitment to areas with low recruitment but with productive and possibly vacant habitat.
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