Science Response 2018/053
Evaluation of the reference condition approach for Yukon placer mining monitoring
Context
Since 2008, Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Fisheries Protection Program (DFO FPP) and its partners, including the Yukon Government, rely on the Adaptive Management Framework (YPAHWG 2008a) implemented by the Yukon Placer Secretariat to manage gold placer mining activity in the Yukon. Founded on principles of adaptive management and incorporating a risk-based approach to decision making, the Fish Habitat Management System (FHMS) is intended to balance the objectives of a sustainable Yukon placer mining industry with the conservation and protection of fish and fish habitat.
A set of protocols has been designed to guide the FHMS. These are the Aquatic Health Monitoring Protocol (Yukon Placer Aquatic Health Working Group [YPAHWG] 2008b), the Water Quality Objectives Monitoring Protocol and the Economic Health Monitoring Protocol. DFO and the Yukon Government’s Department of Environment are responsible for implementing the Aquatic Health Monitoring Protocol designed to assess how effective the FHMS is for maintaining aquatic health for fish and fish habitat, and to generate monitoring results which will be used in the adaptive management framework assessment and adjustment phases. Yukon Government’s Department of Energy Mines and Resources are responsible for the other two protocols.
As part of the FHMS, in the 2000’s the Reference Condition Approach (RCA) was selected by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Yukon Government, in consultation with First Nations and industry, to help assess and monitor aquatic health. This RCA uses benthic invertebrates as an ecosystem indicator of aquatic health, and aquatic health as a surrogate for the health of fish and fish habitat. The Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network (CABIN) was chosen as the biomonitoring program. CABIN provides standardized sampling methods, the sampling protocol, and the data warehouse used to store and analyze the Yukon placer RCA dataset (Reynoldson and Bailey 2013, 2014Footnote 1; Reynoldson et al. 2016). In an effort to improve its reliability, the CABIN model has undergone several revisions, the most recent in 2013. DFO FPP has recently identified concerns about the reliability of the 2013 Yukon model (herein referred to as the 2013 Yukon CABIN model). Given that the RCA results are used to inform adaptive management and to make regulatory decisions under the Fisheries Act, it is important that with the RCA findings, DFO FPP is able to confidently determine if the aquatic health of streams exposed to placer mining activity is being maintained or improved over time.
DFO Fisheries Protection Program has requested that DFO Science Branch evaluate the suitability of the Reference Condition Approach, and provide guidance regarding the adequacy of RCA for informing regulatory decisions for placer mining in the Yukon. The advice arising from this Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) Science Response Process (SRP) will be used to inform DFO FPP on the effectiveness of the RCA model in detecting changes in aquatic health in streams exposed to placer mining activity.
This Science Response Report results from the Science Response Process of July 2018 on the Evaluation of the Reference Condition Approach for Yukon Placer Mining.
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.
- Date modified: