Terms of Reference

Risk Assessment of Permitted Human Activities in Rockfish Conservation Areas in British Columbia

Regional Peer Review Process – Pacific Region

December 12-14, 2018 and May 2-3, 2019
Nanaimo, British Columbia

Chairperson: Lisa Setterington

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 announced a plan to reach our domestic marine conservation targets (MCTs) of protecting five percent of Canada’s marine and coastal areas by 2017 and ten percent by 2020. As of December 2017, Canada exceeded the interim target set for 2017, bringing the total ocean territory under protection to 7.75 percent. 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 by 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 to protect inshore rockfish populations from fishing activity (achieve near zero fishing mortality in these areas) to ensure stocks have the opportunity to rebuild. In addition, RCAs are intended to protect rockfish habitat from impacts of fishing activities. 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 contribute to the 2020 MCTs of ten percent protection if they can meet all OEABCM criteria.

DFO’s Resource Management (Sustainable Fisheries Framework unit), in collaboration with Science Branch, is conducting a risk assessment to identify any permitted human activities that do not allow RCAs to meet all OEABCM criteria and achieve their conservation objectives. The assessment and advice arising from this Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) Regional Peer Review (RPR) process will be used to help guide fisheries managers in determining whether further management measures in RCAs should be considered to allow RCAs to achieve their conservation objectives and contribute to the 2020 MCTs.

This RPR will be informed by advice from a recent CSAS Science Response process (DFO 2018) which evaluated select ecological attributes in RCAs to help determine RCAs’ conservation value to rockfish and their habitats. RCAs were identified that could be high priority for inclusion in MCTs or might benefit from further review of their configurations or locations to improve their conservation value to rockfish.

Objective

The following working paper will be reviewed and provide the basis for discussion and advice on the specific objectives outlined below:

Lancaster D, Thornborough K, Dunham JS, Yu F, Deleys N, Ladell N, Yamanaka L. 2018. Risk assessment of permitted human activities in Rockfish Conservation Areas in British Columbia.  CSAP Working Paper 2017SFF02b.

The specific objectives of this review are to:

1. Identify current RCA management measures (i.e., permitted human activities) that may inhibit RCAs from fulfilling their conservation objectives by not meeting particular OEABCM criteria.
1. Identify if and how RCAs meet OEABCM criteria #1 through 4.
2. Conduct a risk assessment of activities in relation to OEABCM criteria #5.
2. Identify knowledge and data gaps, and uncertainties in the method that may contribute to inconclusive results.

Expected Publications

• Research Document
• Science Advisory Report
• Proceedings

Expected Participation

• Fisheries and Oceans Canada (Science, Resource Management)
• Province of BC
• Non Government Organizations
• First Nations
• Fishing sectors (Commercial, Recreational)

References

DFO. 2018. A regional assessment of ecological attributes in Rockfish Conservation Areas in British Columbia. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Rep. In prep.

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

Dunham JS, Yu F, Haggarty D, Deleys N, Yamanaka L. 2018. A regional assessment of ecological attributes in Rockfish