Terms of Reference

Regional Advisory Meeting

Rationale for index site selection for monitoring Olympia Oyster (Ostrea lurida Carpenter, 1864) population in British Columbia

15 April, 2010

Delta Ocean Pointe Resort
Victoria, B.C.

Chairperson: Ray Lauzier

Context

The PSARC Invertebrate Subcommittee meets routinely to conduct peer reviews of scientific information in support of management decision making.  A peer review of a Science Advisory Report on the rationale for index site selection for monitoring Olympia Oyster (Ostrea lurida Carpenter, 1864) population in British Columbia is planned for 15 April, 2010. Olympia oysters were listed under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) as species of special concern in 2003. A management plan was subsequently published by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) in 2009. The objective of the management plan is to ensure maintenance of the relative abundance of Olympia oysters at index sites over the next six years (2008-2013). One of the identified management actions to reach this objective is to review relative abundance levels at index sites at least once every five years, given their sessile nature and generation time. This Science Advisory Report reviews the methodology used to establish index sites for Olympia oyster monitoring.

Objectives 

Rationale for index site selection for monitoring Olympia Oyster (Ostrea lurida Carpenter, 1864) population in British Columbia

This paper reviews the applicability of index sites as a proxy for measuring population dynamics used in a wide variety of assessment programs at DFO and other jurisdictions. The most commonly used criteria for index site selection has been either to choose sites where the species being assessed was previously known to occur or to select sites that are convenient and accessible. While these approaches may introduce bias in sampling and may not accurately reflect actual status of the population, those sites that are chosen because of pre-existing conditions may already have data that can be added to future studies. Choosing sites that are accessible and convenient also greatly increases the probability of the survey continuing in the future. Based on the results of distributional surveys of 2009, a mix of opportunistic sites as well as randomly selected sites are identified as index sites to provide a representative sample of Olympia oyster populations in four different geographic zones.

Products

• CSAS Proceedings document summarizing the discussion (1)
• CSAS Science Advisory Report (1)

Location and Date

Delta Ocean Pointe Resort, 35 Songhees Rd, Victoria, B.C.  April 15 1PM

Participants

Participants will include internal DFO representatives and potentially participants from the Province of British Columbia, academia, First Nations, and NGO’s.