Science Response 2009/018
Potential Impact of Accidental Captures by Commercial and Recreational Fisheries on the Survival and Recovery of the Striped Bass (morone saxatilis) Population in the St. Lawrence Estuary
Context
In November 2004, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assessed three “designatable units” of striped bass (Morone saxatilis, Walbaum, 1972). The units in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence and Bay of Fundy were designated as threatened, while the oneFootnote 1 in the St. Lawrence Estuary was designated as extirpated since the species’ disappearance was observed in the late 1960s (COSEWIC, 2004).
Although the original striped bass population in the St. Lawrence Estuary disappeared several decades ago, a new population is currently rebuilding. In 2002, the Ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune du Québec (MRNF) initiated a reintroduction strategy in order to establish a new population able to reproduce and sustain itself (Advisory committee on the reintroduction of the striped bass in the St. Lawrence, 2001).
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), as the responsible jurisdiction for aquatic species under the Species at Risk Act (SARA), has undertaken consultations on whether to add the St. Lawrence Estuary striped bass population to the SARA's list of species at risk. In 2006, a recovery potential assessment (RPA) for the striped bass was conducted to provide scientific information to support the listing scenarios (DFO, 2006). This information concerned the status of these three populations and the threats that jeopardize their survival and recovery. For the St. Lawrence Estuary population, the available data was limited because this population has disappeared since the sixties and the information from the reintroduced population was quite patchy. However, since this assessment, the striped bass situation in the St. Lawrence Estuary has changed. Stocking has continued and some evidence seems to indicate the establishment of a new striped bass population in the estuary.
In the event the striped bass is added to SARA, the Act states that “no person shall kill, harm, harass, capture or take an individual of a wildlife species that is listed as an extirpated species, an endangered species or a threatened species.” (Species at Risk Act, section 32(1)). These prohibitions would be applied to the reintroduced population. However, activities that might affect a species listed under the SARA could be permitted in certain circumstances, either by issuing permits (section 73(3)) or within the framework of a recovery strategy (section 83(4)). Although commercial and recreational fishing for this species is prohibited in Quebec, striped bass are regularly captured accidentally during certain commercial and recreational fishing activities. According to the Quebec Fishery Regulations under the Fisheries Act, a person who catches a striped bass shall forthwith return the fish to the water from which it was caught, and, where the fish is alive, release the fish in a manner that causes the least harm to it. In light of this information, it is thus critical to assess in further detail the significance of various fishing activities as source of mortality for the reintroduced striped bass population in the estuary.
Consequently, the Species at Risk Management Branch presented a request for science advice on August 27th, 2009, on the impact of commercial and recreational fisheries on the survival and recovery of the striped bass population in the St. Lawrence Estuary. This advice, which is complementary to the recovery potential assessment conducted in 2006 (DFO, 2006), must consider new data available in order to determine if commercial and recreational fishing activities can be authorized through issuing permits according to sections 73(3) or based on a recovery strategy under section 83(4) of the SARA. In other words, this advice must determine whether commercial and recreational fishing activities represent an allowable harm for the new striped bass population. It will be used to support the decision to add or not the species to the SARA and for preparing the DFO-MRNF joint recovery strategy currently being drafted by the St. Lawrence striped bass recovery team. Since the recommendation for adding or not the species to the SARA is expected shortly, it was decided to formulate this advice under the Science special response process due to time constraints. This document was co-authored by the DFO and the MRNF and was peer reviewed on October 5th, 2009, in order to review the information presented.
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