Terms of Reference

Framework for the qualitative assessment of the dependability of catch data from existing fisheries monitoring tools

National Peer Review – National Capital Region

June 20-23, 2017
Montreal, Quebec

Chairperson: Marc Lanteigne

Context

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is currently drafting a national fishery monitoring policy to ensure that DFO has dependable, up-to-date, and accessible fishery information to manage fisheries sustainably.  Meeting this objective is essential to the long-term sustainable management of fisheries and is an important step in increasing the public’s confidence in the government’s stewardship of public resources.

During the implementation of this new policy there will be a risk assessment of individual fisheries in Canada. Part of the risk assessment will be to review existing catch monitoring tools and the dependability of inferences on catch (retained and non-retained catch) that can be derived from the data collected by each tool as implemented in different fisheries. For these risk assessments to be nationally consistent, National Fisheries Policy has requested that a framework be developed to provide guidance on how different catch monitoring tools could be qualitatively assessed to determine the extent to which they provide data from which catches can be accurately and precisely inferred. In applying the policy, the framework will help guide decisions about the type and level of monitoring that is required in a fishery to meet the data needs of the Department.

This Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) national peer review will not be assessing individual fisheries, but instead will develop a nationally consistent framework, described above, on how to qualitatively assess common tools used across Canada to monitor marine and anadromous fisheries. This framework is an important first step in fulfilling the National Fishery Policy request. A future meeting may be held to apply the framework to Canadian fisheries to inform fishery-specific decisions about the requirements for fishery monitoring. 

Objectives

The following working papers are being prepared prior to the meeting and will be reviewed and provide the basis for discussion and advice on the specific objectives outlined below.

• Beauchamp, B., Benoît, H., and Duprey, N. Review of fishery monitoring tools used to record catch data in Canada. CSAS Working Paper
• Allard, J., and Benoît, H. Methods to qualitatively assess the dependability of catch data from fishery monitoring tools used in Canada. CSAS Working Paper

The objectives of this meeting are to:

• Review the common fishery monitoring tools currently used by Canadian fisheries to gather fishery dependent data on catch, and include a review of common implementation variances for each tool;
• Develop a list of catch categories to be assessed (e.g., retained catch: target, non-target; non-retained catch: target species, uncommon/rare species, SARA-listed species);
• Qualitatively assess the dependability of the inferences (accuracy and precision) derived from the data provided by each tool for each of the coverage level categories within each catch category;
• Qualitatively assess the dependability of inferences on the spatial location and demographic composition of catches for management purposes for different monitoring tools and coverage level categories.

Expected Publications

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

Expected Participation

• DFO, Ecosystems and Oceans Science and Ecosystems and Fisheries Management sectors