Terms of Reference

Assessment of ecological attributes in Rockfish Conservation Areas in British Columbia

Science Response Process – Pacific Region

July 2018
Nanaimo, British Columbia

Chairperson: Jason Dunham

Context

In 2010, the Government of Canada agreed to conserve at least 10 percent of Canada’s coastal and marine areas through protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures by 2020 (United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity Aichi Target 11). Since then, Canada has reaffirmed this international commitment for Canada. In 2016, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) announced a plan to reach our domestic marine conservation targets (MCTs) to protect five percent of Canada’s marine and coastal areas by 2017 and 10 percent by 2020. Five areas of action that will support reaching Canada’s marine conservation targets have been laid out, one of which is the advancement of “other effective area based conservation measures” (OEABCM), by identifying existing OEABCMs and establishing new ones.

Operational Guidance for Identifying ‘Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures’ in Canada’s Marine Environment (DFO 2016a) has been developed to ensure that a “consistent and science-based approach to identifying and reporting on marine OEABCMs that contribute to Canada’s international and domestic marine conservation targets” is used. The guidance has been informed by international direction (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Convention on Biological Diversity) and domestic discussions and DFO science advice (Canadian Council of Ecological Areas; DFO 2016b) and identifies five criteria that area-based management measures must meet in order to be considered as OEABCMs:

1. clearly defined geographic location   
2. presence of ecological components of interest
3. conservation or stock management objectives
4. long-term duration of implementation
5. the ecological components of interest (the important habitat and species identified earlier) are effectively conserved

In the Pacific Region, 164 Rockfish Conservation Areas (RCAs), totalling approximately 4,800 km², were established between 2003 and 2007 for the purposes of protecting and rebuilding inshore rockfish stocks and for the protection of inshore rockfish habitat. RCAs would also protect rockfish habitat from impacts of fishing activities such as bottom contact fishing gear. In 2016, a preliminary review of RCAs was conducted to evaluate RCAs against OEABCM criteria; however, limited time and data were available and a formal risk assessment was not completed. Consequently, RCAs were initially screened out of the OEABCM process and therefore did not contribute to the 2017 MCTs of five percent protection. Nevertheless, RCAs have the potential to meet 2020 MCTs of 10 percent protection if they can meet all OEABCM criteria. Furthermore, it has been 11 years since RCAs were first implemented and it is therefore timely to review their conservation effectiveness and assess whether conservation benefits of individual RCAs can be enhanced by changing configurations or locations.

DFO’s Fisheries Management (Sustainable Fisheries Framework) has requested Science Branch identify RCAs that might benefit from changes to their boundary or location to better protect inshore rockfish and their habitats. As such, the RCA boundary/location review is considered the first phase of this science request. The next phase will be to conduct a qualitative risk assessment to identify permitted human activities which may inhibit RCAs from fulfilling their conservation objectives.

The advice arising from this Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) Science Response will be used to inform the effectiveness of RCA management. The evaluation will help identify potential measures that may be implemented to ensure RCAs achieve their conservation goals; thereby allowing some RCAs to meet the OEABCM criteria by 2020.

Objective

This Science Response will address the following objectives:

1. Assess relevant ecological attributes in RCAs that may influence the conservation benefit of RCAs for protecting inshore rockfish and their habitats. The review will incorporate benthic habitat information derived from existing models and survey methods.
2. Identify those RCAs in which the conservation benefits to rockfish might be improved by additional review of their boundaries or locations.
3. Provide advice on current and proposed RCA network planning, and potential measures to continue to assess the effectiveness of the conservation areas over time.
4. Identify knowledge gaps and uncertainties in the data and methods used to assess the ecological attributes in RCAs. 

Expected Publications

• Science Response
• Research Document

Expected Participation

• Fisheries and Oceans Canada (Science, Fisheries Management)
• Province of British Columbia (Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations)
• First Nations (Central Coast Indigenous Resource Alliance)

References

DFO. 2016a. Operational Guidance for Identifying ‘Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures’ in Canada’s Marine Environment. Version 1a.

DFO. 2016b. Guidance on Identifying “Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures” in Canadian Coastal and Marine Waters. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Advis. Rep.2016/002.