Terms of Reference
Annual Meeting of the National Marine Mammal Peer Review Committee
November 16-20, 2009
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Chairperson: Don Bowen
Introduction
The National Marine Mammal Peer Review Committee (NMMPRC) holds an annual meeting to conduct scientific peer review of marine mammal issues. This approach gives the opportunity to bring together experts on marine mammals from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) with specific contributions from non-DFO experts to ensure high quality review of the scientific results and to provide sound scientific basis for the management and conservation of marine mammals in Canada. When time permits, this annual meeting is also an opportunity to review ongoing research projects and provide feedback or guidance to the scientists involved.
Topics:
Harp Seal
Context: Harp seals, Pagophilus groenlandicus, are the most abundant pinniped in the northwest Atlantic with an estimated population size in 2009 of 5.6 (CI=3.9-7.2 million) million animals (Science Advisory Report 2008/058). The Canadian and Greenland hunt for Northwest Atlantic harp seals is the largest marine mammal harvest in the world. Since 2003, the Canadian commercial harp seal harvest has been managed under an Objective-Based Fisheries Management (OBFM) approach which incorporates the principle of the Precautionary Approach. Under this approach, precautionary reference levels are identified and are associated with pre-agreed management actions that are to be enacted if the population is estimated to decline further (Research Document 2003/067). Under OBFM, the management objective is to set harvests that will ensure an 80% probability (L20) that the population will remain above the precautionary reference level (N70), of 4.1 million animals. The limit reference level, for this population, also known as a conservation reference level has been set at N30 or 1.7 million animals. In evaluating the impacts of different harvest levels on the population, reported harvests by Canadian and Greenland hunters, losses due to animals struck but not landed or reported, bycatch in fishing gear, changes in reproductive rates, and unusual mortality due to poor ice conditions are taken into account.
Objectives: In 2008, a new population survey of harp seals was conducted. The objective of this peer-review is to assess the new population estimates and provide advice to DFO Fisheries Resource Management on the impact of proposed harvest levels and sustainable harvest levels which will meet the objectives of OBFM and ensure that the harp seal population has a 80% likelihood that it will remain above N70 through the remainder of the duration of the Atlantic Seal Management Plan (it will end in 2010).
Working papers: One working paper will be the subject of a peer review.
Output of the meeting: One Research Document and one Science Advisory Report are expected.
Grey Seal
Context: Grey seals are managed under the Objective Based Fisheries Management (OBFM) approach for Atlantic seals which was implemented in 2003. The management objective is to maintain an 80% probability (L20) that the population will remain above 70% (N70) of the largest population seen. For grey seals with a population of 300 000 animals, N70 is 210 000 animals.
There is a small commercial hunt for grey seals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and along the Eastern Shore. Grey seals on Sable Island are currently protected. The status of the population was assessed in 2007. Staging information is necessary in order for a hunt of appropriately mature juvenile grey seals to occur while causing minimal disturbance to those who are not yet mature. Grey seal mothers can potentially abandon their pups if disturbed before the pup is weaned. To prevent this, the hunt for grey seal pups is not opened until 90% have weaned.
Objectives: For the main breeding colonies along the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia (Flat / Noddy Island, Bowens Ledge, Hay Island, etc), the goal is to determine at what date will 90% of the grey seal pups be weaned, and what is the approximate age class breakdown (% whitecoats, % beaters, etc) of the pups present?
Working papers: One working paper will be the subject of a peer review.
Output of the meeting: One Research Document and one Science Advisory Report are expected.
St. Lawrence Beluga
Context: In spring 2004 the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assessed belugas in the St. Lawrence as Threatened, and they were subsequently listed as such under Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA). The Act requires that a Recovery Strategy will have to be developed and that critical habitat be identified in the Strategy to the extent possible based on the best information available or a schedule of studies be included that, when completed, would allow critical habitat to be identified. If critical habitat can not be identified completely, a rationale must be provided, and a schedule of studies necessary to identify critical habitat must be produced.
The St. Lawrence Recovery Team is now developing a draft Recovery Strategy. The Team is seeking information and advice from DFO Science about what environmental features of beluga habitat are critical to the survival or recovery of this species and what location(s)/region(s) in the St. Lawrence could be identified as critical habitat. This information and advice is also needed to complement the Recovery Potential Assessment conducted in April 2005 during which neither beluga habitat requirements nor critical habitat was identified.
Objectives: The objective is to review available habitat information to be used for the identification of critical habitat of St. Lawrence beluga by the recovery team (see Science Advisory Report 2007/038 for the series of issues to be addressed).
Working papers: One working paper will be the subject of a peer review.
Output of the meeting: One Research Document and one Science Advisory Report are expected.
Killer Whale
Context: Resident killer whales (RKW) are listed under the SARA. Southern RKW have declined to 87 with only 10 breeding females in the population. Nutritional stresses combined with immuno-supression effects from contaminants loads appear to be severly impacting this population. The PCAI values are significantly correlated with Southern RKW population health and the lower boundary of PCAI that ensures population growth needs to be determined for management purposes.
Objectives: RKW specialize on chinook salmon and have significant correlations of declining birth rates and increased mortality rates with low Pacific chinook abundance index values (PCAI). The goal of this review is to determine the chinook abundance levels required to prevent impacts on RKW survival and productivity.
Working papers: One working paper will be the subject of a peer review.
Output of the meeting: One Research Document and one Science Advisory Report are expected.
Bowhead Whale
Context: The Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort (B-C-B) population of bowhead whales was added to Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA) list in 2008 as a Species of Special Concern. The Act requires that a Management Plan be developed by 2013, i.e. within 5 years of SARA listing. Since the SARA listing, new research on B-C-B bowheads has been done (surveys, tagging, census) that includes the western Canadian Arctic. Some mitigation of industrial activity has also been undertaken with respect to bowhead whales (e.g. survey flights in advance of seismic activities in 2006).
Objectives: The goal is to determine the current stock status and trend of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) in the western Arctic. A review of new information by NMMPRC in fall 2009 would facilitate the development of a Science Advisory Report for western Arctic bowhead whales. This scientific information will be used by FAM and its co-management partners in development of an Integrated Fisheries Management Plan (IFMP) for B-C-B Bowheads in the western Canadian Arctic by 2013.
Working papers: One working paper will be the subject of a peer review.
Output of the meeting: One Research Document and one Science Advisory Report are expected.
Northern Hudson Bay Narwhal
Context: Northern Hudson Bay (NHB) narwhal are primarily harvested by Repulse Bay, with additional take by four additional Kivalliq communities (Rankin Inlet, Whale Cove, Chesterfield Inlet and Coral Harbour) and four in Baffin Region (Hall Beach, Igloolik, Cape Dorset and Iqaluit). Communities with quotas are requesting increased allocation for NHB narwhals; some communities without quota are requesting allocation for NHB narwhal (e.g. Arviat, Baker Lake). In addition, Nunavik Inuit have requested a small allocation of NHB narwhals.
Science advice (Central and Arctic, Science Review 2006/001, unpublished report) is that there is “a high risk to the stock if the combined Kivalliq and Hall Beach quotas are filled regularly … that the probability of future decline is within risk tolerance presented when 73 animals are harvested from the stock annually provided catches in other communities remain at present level.”
The sum of the existing quotas in place for NHB narwhal is 112 narwhals (not including Hall Beach), although the most current 5 year average is 84 landed narwhals (not including losses) and approximately 6 by Hall Beach hunters.
The relevant Science Advisory Report (2008/35) was formally presented to the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board (NWMB) in June 2009, and final revisions are underway. This report produced a recommended hunting mortality of 73 narwhals for the NHB population, not including hunting losses. With a correction for hunting loss, a Total Allowable Landed Catch of 57 narwhals was calculated for NHB narwhal.
Objectives: DFO surveyed the summer range of NHB narwhal in August 2008 in order to update the existing abundance estimate. A finalized abundance estimate was anticipated prior to the 2009 hunting season, to ensure that the harvest of NHB remains sustainable. The objective is to determine the new abundance estimate for the Northern Hudson Bay (NHB) narwhal population produced from surveys flown in August 2008.
Working papers: One working paper will be the subject of a peer review.
Output of the meeting: One Research Document and one Science Advisory Report are expected.
Nunavut Narwhal and Beluga
Context: The Nunavut Wildlife Management Board (NWMB) wishes to begin establishing Total Allowable Harvest (TAH) levels for narwhal and beluga populations in Nunavut, and wishes to consider whether to establish TAH by summering stocks or populations.
The Nunavut Wildlife Management Board (NWMB) has asked DFO to provide clarification on:
- its rationale for providing science advice on Total Allowable Harvest (TAH) by known summering stock aggregations, rather than at the population level,
- clarification about various terms used in provision of said advice, e.g. population, stock, sub-stock, management unit, etc., and
- an update on the current population identity of belugas harvested by hunters from Iqaluit and Kimmirut
Objectives: A Research Document summarizing the current population identity of narwhal and beluga that supply subsistence harvests of Nunavut Inuit will result. This document will also support of the advice and approach used in Science Advisory Report 2008/035. This document is intended for presentation to NWMB at its December 2009 meeting in Iqaluit.
Working papers: One working paper will be the subject of a peer review.
Output of the meeting: One Research Document and one Science Advisory Report are expected.
Nunavik Beluga
Context: The beluga hunt in Nunavik is extremely important from a cultural point of view and also has implications for food needs for local Inuit communities. An annual hunt plan is required for 2010 upon the request of the Nunavik Marine Wildlife Management Board.
Objectives: The objectives are to determine:
- the maximum harvest level for Eastern Hudson Bay (EHB) beluga that would not result in a decline in the stock population
- the harvest level for EHB beluga that would result in an increase in population
Working papers: One working paper will be the subject of a peer review.
Output of the meeting: One Research Document and one Science Advisory Report are expected.
Ringed Seal
Context: The spring aerial surveys of hauled-out ringed seals is the longest time-series abundance estimates of marine mammals for the Canadian Arctic having been surveyed 9 of the past 15 years. Improvements to survey methodology are needed to increase precision of abundance estimates related to observer bias and possible changes in availability of seals (e.g., photography). Using photographic images taken from under the survey aircraft may provide a complete abundance estimate that can be used to correct observer error and adjust DISTANCE analysis.
Objectives: The goal is to present methodological improvements to aerial surveys of ringed seals using photographic image analysis. Other aerial surveys (e.g., whale and walrus) may benefit from the improvements to survey methodology that includes incorporating photographic estimates.
Output of the meeting: The document presented will remain a working paper.
Participation:
The participants invited to this meeting include DFO Science, DFO Fisheries and Aquaculture Management, DFO CSAS, DFO Oceans and Habitat, Parks Canada Agency; representatives from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Canadian Sealers Association, Association des chasseurs de phoque des Îles-de-la-Madeleine; and scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (U.S), Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, and the Institute of Marine Resources (Norway).
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