Terms of Reference

Assessment of habitat required for the survival and recovery of the St. Lawrence Estuary striped bass population

Regional Peer Review – Quebec Region

March 15, 2016
Québec, Qc

Chairperson: Charley Cyr

Context

The striped bass (Morone saxatilis, Walbaum 1972) population of the St. Lawrence Estuary was designated extirpated in Canada under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) in 2011 following the assessment by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) in 2004 (COSEWIC 2004). Following the Ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune du Québec re-introduction effort initiated in 2002 in order to establish a new population able to reproduce and sustain itself, the striped bass population has shown some increase in abundance, and an increase in distribution and a natural spawning. In 2011, the status of the St. Lawrence Estuary population was reassessed by COSEWIC and was designated Endangered (COSEWIC 2012). Under SARA, critical habitat must be designated for all threatened, endangered or extirpated species. In the Recovery Strategy for the striped bass, St. Lawrence Estuary population (Robitaille et al. 2011), a zone located at Anse Sainte-Anne, at La Pocatière has been designated as critical habitat between September 1 and October 31, due to a concentration of juvenile during this period. The recovery strategy also presents the schedule of studies required to complete the designation of critical habitat required to achieve population and species distribution objectives.

A scientific advice on the assessment of habitat quality and habitat use by the St. Lawrence Estuary Striped bass population was provided by the Science Sector (DFO 2011). A part of the critical habitat for Striped bass of the St. Lawrence Estuary is currently defined in the recovery plan and a request for scientific advice was made by DFO Species at Risk management program to the Quebec regional Science Branch to continue efforts to identify important habitats for recovery of striped bass in the St. Lawrence and eventually complete the identification of critical habitat.

Objective

The main objective of this meeting is to review the available information on habitat used and frequented by the St. Lawrence Estuary striped bass population since the last assessment (DFO 2011). More specifically, the meeting will update the available information (including uncertainties and gaps) to answer the following questions:

• Provide functional descriptions of the properties that the St. Lawrence Estuary striped bass population habitat must have to allow successful completion of all life history stages.
• Provide advice on how much habitat that is likely to have the necessary properties.
• Identify the activities most likely to threaten the properties that give the sites their value, and provide advice on the extent to which various threats can alter the quality and/or quantity of habitat that is available.
• Quantify the presence and extent of spatial configuration constraints, if any, such as connectivity, barriers to access, etc.
• Provide advice on the degree to which supply of suitable habitat meets the demands of the species both at present, and when the species reaches biologically based recovery targets for abundance, range, and number of populations.
• Provide advice on feasibility of restoring habitat to higher values, if supply may not meet demand by the time recovery targets would be reached, in the context of all available options for achieving recovery targets for population size and range.

Expected Publications

• Science Advisory Report
• Proceedings
• Research Document(s)

Participation

• Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) (Science, and Species at Risk Management sectors)
• Province of Québec
• University

References

COSEWIC. 2004. COSEWIC assessment and status report on the striped bass Morone saxatilis in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. vii + 43 pp.

COSEWIC. 2012. COSEWIC assessment and status report on the Striped Bass Morone saxatilis in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. iv + 82 pp.

DFO. 2007. Documenting Habitat Use of Species at Risk and Quantifying Habitat Quality. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Advis. Rep. 2007/038.

DFO. 2011. Assessment of Habitat Quality and Habitat Use by the Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) Population of the St. Lawrence Estuary, Quebec. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Advis. Rep. 2010/069.

Robitaille, J., M. Bérubé, A. Gosselin, M. Baril, J. Beauchamp, J. Boucher, S. Dionne, M. Legault, Y. Mailhot, B. Ouellet, P. Sirois, S. Tremblay G. Trencia, G. Verreault and D. Villeneuve. 2011. Recovery Strategy for the Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis), St. Lawrence Estuary Population, Canada. Species at Risk Act Recovery Strategy Series. Ottawa : Fisheries and Oceans Canada. xi + 51 p.