Research Document - 2014/112
Science advice on a decision framework for managing residual impacts to fish and fish habitat
By Michael J. Bradford, Marten A. Koops,and Robert G. Randall
Abstract
In 2012, legislative amendments were made to Canada’s Fisheries Act, including the Fisheries Protection Provisions that apply to activities or works (projects) that have the potential to adversely affect fish or fish habitat, potentially resulting in a loss of productivity of Canada’s fisheries. The Fisheries Protection Program (FPP) sought advice from Science regarding approaches and methods for the evaluation of the adverse effects of projects, particularly for the initial screening of smaller projects where the information available for making regulatory decisions is limited. Risk assessment and management process are discussed, and a review of the application of DFO’s 2005 Habitat Risk Management framework is presented. Recommendations are made on attributes that could be used to evaluate project impacts. The concept of equivalent adults is proposed as a common metric that permits diverse impacts to be computed in the units of fish potentially lost to the fishery, expressed as either abundance or production. It is recommended that regional benchmarks for fish abundance and production be developed to assist decision making when project-specific information is lacking.
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