Terms of Reference

Identifying indicators for monitoring Arctic marine biodiversity in Canada

National Peer Review, National Capital Region

February 6 – 8, 2012
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Chairpersons: Joclyn Paulic and Sherry Walker

Context

Arctic marine biodiversity is under growing pressure from climate change and resource development, among other stressors.  Managers and users require access to more complete evidence-based information for making decisions about sustainable use, environmental protection, and adaptation.

Through the Arctic Council working group on the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF), six Arctic coastal nations (Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Russia and USA) have agreed to coordinate efforts to detect and understand long-term change in Arctic marine ecosystems and key biodiversity elements. The Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CBMP)-Marine Plan, published in 2011, calls for integrating existing long-term traditional scientific and community-based biotic and supporting abiotic data sets across trophic levels and in select Arctic marine regions.

Using an indicator approach, marine biodiversity baselines for sea-ice biota, plankton, benthos, fish, marine mammals, and polar bears will be constructed using published material and historical data. More recent existing data will be compared to these baselines to detect changes and trends in key indicators and, where possible, interpret the underlying causes of such change.  The information will be synthesized in periodic updates on indicator status and trends, and assessments of key elements and regions of the Arctic marine system.

One significant challenge will lie in distinguishing which changes are due to natural variability, and which are caused by anthropogenic stressors such as climate change, industrial development, etc.  Another challenge will be our ability to draw conclusions based on incomplete and limited data, especially true monitoring data.  Most existing data are collected for reasons other than monitoring or biodiversity purposes.

Along with drawing on existing data, there will be a need to identify priority gaps in data (and potentially indicators) to point to what new data should be collected and from where, to improve Arctic marine biodiversity monitoring in future.  For the CBMP-Marine Plan to succeed, it will be necessary to keep the science advice clear, concise, and easy to communicate to the main audiences which include the ministers of the Crown, who are seeking advice on how to respond to change; and the Arctic Council, which seeks a pan-Arctic perspective on change.

Results will be reported for marine ecoregions across the circumpolar Arctic.  In Canada, the size of the Arctic and paucity of data require that we focus on priority subregions where we believe we will obtain the most useful results and regional comparisons.  Preliminary analysis has identified six possible subregions, nested within broader marine ecoregions.

Ultimately, the goal is to improve our understanding of change and to provide regular and authoritative assessments of key elements and regions of the Arctic marine system that respond to regional, national, and international decision making and reporting requirements. 

The intent of this science peer review process is to develop and recommend a suite of indicators that can be used to monitor changes in Arctic biodiversity for consideration by the Arctic Council Working Group on Conservation Flora and Fauna.  This will serve as one of the initial steps towards the goal of improving our understanding of variability and change for the assessment of Arctic marine systems, as described above.

Objectives

The objective of the CSAS meeting is to conduct a peer review of a Working Paper being prepared to:

• refine an existing “longlist” of parameters and indicators being recommended for monitoring Arctic marine biodiversity ¹ ; and
• recommend a feasible temporal sampling scheme.

The Working Paper is being developed using the indicators recommended in the CBMP-Marine Plan (http://www.caff.is/marine-ecosystem/marine-monitoring-plan) as a starting point.  The paper will also take into account indicators that have been identified within Canada related to Arctic marine biodiversity through other processes (e.g., Tarium Niryutait Marine Protected Area, and the Nunavut General Monitoring Plan).  The Working Paper will also investigate the availability of data for use in the short-term, along with key data and indicator gaps which could form the basis for effort in the long-term.

Additional working papers on biodiversity may also be considered at the meeting in the development of the scientific advice.

Expected Publications

The publications expected in connection with this CSAS process are: 

• Proceedings,
• Science Advisory Report, and
• Research Document(s).

Participation

It is anticipated that participants will be invited from:

• Fisheries and Oceans Canada (all regions except for Gulf),
• Environment Canada,
• Parks Canada,
• Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada,
• Academia, and
• Northern wildlife management boards (e.g., Fisheries Joint Management Committee, Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, etc.)

References cited

M.J. Gill, K. Crane, R. Hindrum, P. Arneberg, I. Bysveen, N.V. Denisenko, V. Gofman, A. Grant-Friedman, G. Gudmundsson, R.R. Hopcroft, K. Iken, A. Labansen, O.S. Liubina, I.A. Melnikov, S.E. Moore, J.D. Reist, B. I. Sirenko, J.Stow, F. Ugarte, D. Vongraven and J. Watkins. Arctic Marine Biodiversity Monitoring Plan (CBMP-MARINE PLAN), CAFF Monitoring Series Report No. 3, April 2011, CAFF International Secretariat, Akureyri, Iceland. ISBN 1. 978-9979-9778-7-2.