Terms of Reference

Recovery Potential Assessment of Lake Chubsucker

Regional Advisory Meeting

Burlington, ON
9 March 2011

Co-chairs: Lynn Bouvier and Nicholas Mandrak

Context

In April 1994, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) designated Lake Chubsucker as Special Concern. The status was re-examined in November 2001 when it was uplisted to Threatened. The status was once again examined in November 2008 when it was re-designated as Endangered. The reason for designation being that this species has a very restricted geographic Canadian range with small extant population having very specific and narrow habitat preferences. Lake Chubsucker was subsequently added to Schedule I of the Species at Risk Act (SARA). 

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Science has been asked to undertake a Recovery Potential Assessment (RPA) for Lake Chubsucker. DFO Science developed the RPA framework to provide the information and scientific advice required for the Department to meet various requirements of SARA including listing decisions, authorizations to carry out activities that would otherwise violate SARA and the development of recovery strategies. The RPA may be used to inform both scientific and socio-economic elements of the listing decision, as well as development of a recovery strategy and action plan,  and to support decision-making with regards to the issuance of permits, agreements and related conditions, as per section 73, 74, 75, 77 and 78 of SARA.
 
This advisory meeting is being held to assess the recovery potential of Lake Chubsucker. The resulting RPA Science Advisory Report will summarize the current understanding of the distribution, abundance and trend of this species, along with recovery targets and times to recovery while considering various management scenarios. The current state of knowledge about habitat requirements, threats to both habitat and Lake Chubsucker, and measures to mitigate these impacts, will also be included in the Science Advisory Report. 

Objectives

The intent of this meeting is to assess the recovery potential of Lake Chubsucker using the RPA framework outlined in the Revised Protocol for Conducting Recovery Potential Assessments. The advice will be provided to the DFO Minister for her consideration in meeting various requirements of SARA for this species.

Expected publications

The meeting will generate a proceedings report summarizing the deliberations of the participants. This will be published in the Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) Proceedings Series. There will be CSAS Research Document(s) produced from the working paper(s) presented at the meeting. Advice from the meeting will be published in the form of a Science Advisory Report. 

Participation

Experts from DFO, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Royal Ontario Museum, Parks Canada, and conservation authorities have been invited to this meeting. Participants will not exceed a maximum of 15 people.