Science Response 2019/002

Analysis and evaluation of the results of studies on the striped bass, conducted on behalf of the Québec Port Authority as part of the Beauport 2020 project

Context

In 2015, the Québec Port Authority (QPA) submitted to the Fisheries Protection Program of DFO Quebec Region’s Regional Ecosystems Management Branch (REMB) an application for authorization for a project to expand the Port of Québec in Beauport Bay. The REMB’s analysis indicated that the project was likely to cause serious harm to a number of fish species under the Fisheries Act (FA) and impacts to at least one species of fish protected under the Species at Risk Act (SARA). Fishing carried out by firms hired by the QPA and by Quebec’s Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs (MFFP) showed a high abundance of striped bass (Morone saxatilis), particularly reproductive adults, in the area targeted for the port expansion. The striped bass, St. Lawrence River population, currently in recovery, is a species protected under SARA. Subsequently, as part of the environmental assessment of the project, the QPA hired a consultant to document the occurrence of striped bass in the study area through monitoring of spawning activity (2015 to 2017), environmental DNA surveys (2016 to 2017), a simulation of egg drift in Beauport Bay, and telemetry tracking of adult striped bass tagged with acoustic transmitters (2015 to 2017). This tracking involved striped bass tagged by MFFP in projects undertaken for purposes other than assessing the species’ status in Beauport Bay. In October 2017, the QPA submitted a summary report (Anonymous 2017) to the REMB. The QPA hopes that the consultant’s studies will feed the analysis to more precisely identify the critical habitat of the St. Lawrence River population of striped bass.
After receiving that report, the REMB requested scientific advice from the Regional Science Branch (RSB) to determine whether the methods, analyses, results and interpretation presented allow, with reasonable certainty:

1. Confirmation of the conclusion regarding the presence of a spawning area at the mouth of the Etchemin River, based on environmental DNA (eDNA) surveys, signs of spawning activity based on the observation of striped bass jumping and splashing, and surveys of recreational fishers reporting catches of adult and juvenile striped bass during the spawning period;
2. Confirmation that the results of telemetry tracking carried out near the southwestern tip of Beauport Bay and in a section of the St. Lawrence River extending as far as Lévis could contribute to modify the area of important spawning habitat identified at the tip of the Québec Harbour peninsula (Beauport area) under the recovery strategy, taking into account that the currently designated area has already been identified as an important breeding area, as described in the recent Science Advisory Report (DFO 2017a);
3. Confirmation that the hydrodynamic model used and the assumptions of the model are adequate for simulation of the drift of striped bass eggs and incorporate all the variables specific to the St. Lawrence River.

As part of the regional science response process, representatives from the DFO Regional Science Branch and the Regional Ecosystems Management Branch, Environment and Climate Change Canada, consultants, the MFFP and universities met in Québec City on March 22-23, 2018 to review the first report (Anonymous 2017) prepared by the QPA consultant and to address the three points above. Following the March 2018 meeting, the consultant prepared a second report (Anonymous 2018) for the QPA that took into account reviewer comments on the telemetry component: it was submitted to the REMB in July 2018. The REMB once again requested that the RSB revise the second report and address the second point above.
This Science Response Report results from the Science Response Process in March and July 2018 on the evaluation and interpretation of the results of studies on striped bass, conducted on behalf of the Québec Port Authority as part of the Beauport 2020 project.

Complete document (PDF, 701 KB)

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