Terms of Reference

Maritimes Region Science Advisory Process

Review of Analyses on Atlantic Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus)

January 22-23, 2008

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

Context

The implementation of the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA), proclaimed in June 2003, begins with an assessment of a species’ risk of extinction by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). An assessment initiates the regulatory process whereby the competent Minister must decide whether or not to accept COSEWIC’s assessment and add a species to Schedule 1 of SARA, which would result in legal protection for the species under the Act. DFO is to provide COSEWIC with the best information available to ensure that an accurate assessment of the status of a species can be undertaken.

A status report for basking shark was prepared and presented to COSEWIC at its April 2007 meeting. It was agreed that final consideration of the status report would be deferred until additional qualitative analyses that it identified as useful were undertaken. The current meeting is to review these new analyses. COSEWIC has tentatively planned to reconsider the basking shark status report in November 2007.

Objectives

• To comment on the accuracy and representativeness of observer and basking sharking sighting information in the Right Whale Database that has become available since the compilation of the COSEWIC status report.
• To prepare estimates of total annual discards by gear sector in relation to sustainability.
• To review life history models of basking shark, their assumptions, parameter estimates, and outputs in the terms of precision and bias.

Outputs

CSAS proceedings recording the discussion
CSAS research document of the technical details

Participation

DFO Maritimes and Newfoundland Science, Fisheries & Aquaculture Management, and Oceans
COSEWIC chairs and authors

APCFNC Secretariat

NS and NB Provincial representatives
Fishing industry, specifically silver hake fishery

NGOs (WWF and EAC)
External experts