Science Response 2017/017

Review of Habitat Suitability Indices (HSIs) for priority and common fish species in the Athabasca oil sands region

Context

Habitat models that are based on Habitat Suitability Indices (HSIs) are commonly used to quantify and qualify habitat of freshwater fish species. HSIs are developed for different abiotic habitat variables (e.g., water depth, velocity, substrate, water temperature, dissolved oxygen), and are species and life-stage dependent. Values of HSIs range from 0 (not suitable at all) to 1 (perfectly suitable), and are typically presented as the dependent variable plotted against a range of the relevant habitat variable. Fish habitat models are used to quantify and budget habitat losses and gains from development projects. The reliability of habitat modelling is, in part, dependent on assigning well-defined and accurate HSIs to each species and life-stage included in the modelling.

The Fisheries Sustainable Habitat (FiSH) Committee, a task group of the Oil Sands Developers Group (OSDG) Environment Committee, includes representatives from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), the Provincial Government, and oil companies operating in the Athabasca oil sands region of northeastern Alberta. To improve efficiency and effectiveness, and to facilitate compliance with existing Fisheries Act  authorizations, the FiSH Committee has undertaken a validation of the existing fish HSIs developed for the Alberta Oil Sands Region (Golder 2008) as a standard methodology for discussing fish habitat, impacts and offsets.

In 2013, Phase 1 was completed. It included creation of a database of existing fish and habitat data collected between 2006–2011 from Oil Sands operators, identifying gaps and compatible data as inputs to the process of refining and validating HSIs.

Phase 2 included the design and implementation of a three-year study (2013–2015) to collect habitat and fish data for key riverine species (six priority and eight common species) to facilitate validation and refinement of the HSIs. These refinements are detailed in a draft technical report (Hatfield Consultants in prep.) entitled, Refinement of Fish Habitat Pre-Disturbance Models Draft Technical Report – Phase 2.

Fisheries Protection Program (FPP) has requested Science evaluate the model validation approach, methods, data, analyses, results and proposed revisions to the regional HSIs in the Hatfield Consultants Draft Technical Report – Phase 2 to ensure that they are scientifically sound.

The objectives of the peer review are to evaluate whether the approaches and methods used and the refined HSIs developed in the report for the Athabasca oil sands region of northeastern Alberta are scientifically valid and defensible when used to calculate fish habitat loss and gain for projects. The review is to include recommendations and discussion of uncertainties. It should also consider whether these HSIs are applicable to other areas within DFO’s Central and Arctic Region.

This Science Response resulted from the Science Response Process of October 2016 on the Review of Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) model input parameters and model results for priority and common fish species in the Athabasca oil sands region.

Complete document (PDF, 209 KB)

Accessibility Notice

This document is available in PDF format. If the document is not accessible to you, please contact the Secretariat to obtain another appropriate format, such as regular print, large print, Braille or audio version.