Terms of Reference

Operational Advice for Fisheries Protection Program

National Peer Review - National Capital Region

September 30 to October 3, 2013
Ottawa, ON

Chairperson: Dr. Jake Rice, Chief Scientist, DFO

Context

In 2012, legislative amendments were made to the Fisheries Act, including new terminology and new sections to the Act.  DFO’s Fisheries Protection Program (FPP) seeks Science advice to inform the operational implementation of these legislative changes, particularly the consideration of serious harm to fish.  In the Act, serious harm to fish is defined as the death of fish or any permanent alteration to, or destruction of, fish habitat.  Proposed development projects which may result in serious harm to fish vary not only in their scale, but also in the type of potential impact.  In addition, these projects occur in different fish habitat(s), potentially affecting different fish populations. 

Objectives

To better inform regulatory decisions, FPP practitioners request that DFO Science:

1. Provide advice on possible tools and approaches to inform regulatory decisions related to serious harm to fish.  Such advice should consider the magnitude and likelihood of potential impacts to fish and fish habitat likely to result from development projects (works/undertakings/activities), particularly the influence of:
   1. Spatial scale,
   2. Temporal scale, and
   3. Magnitude of potential impact to fish populations.
      
   
   This advice will be guided by the peer review of a working paper on this topic.
   
   
2. Provide advice on calculating the equivalency between losses to fish and fish habitat resulting from project impacts to gains in fish and fish habitat from various types of offsetting.  This advice will be derived from the peer review of a working paper on “equivalence”.
   
   
3. Peer review a working paper on metrics of fisheries productivity, and provide advice on their application in the Fisheries Protection Provisions.

Expected Publications

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

Participation

• Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) (Ecosystems and Oceans Science, and Ecosystems and Fisheries Policy and Management sectors)
• Academia or Academics
• Other invited experts