Terms of Reference

Science Guidance for Fisheries Protection Policy: Advice on Equivalent Adult Calculation

National Peer Review - National Capital Region

June 9-10, 2014
Burlington, ON

Chairperson: Jake Rice

Context

Recent changes to the Fisheries Act (2012) will change the way Department assesses and manages impacts on aquatic ecosystems. The amended Act focuses on the sustainability and ongoing productivity of commercial, recreational or Aboriginal fisheries.

DFO Program Policy Sector has requested scientific guidance towards the implementation of these amendments to the Fisheries Act.  DFO Science has undertaken a series of meetings in which participants review scientific information related to fisheries productivity losses due to human development, and provide operational guidance to the Fisheries Protection Program. This meeting will look specifically at the concept of using “Equivalent Adult” and production foregone as means of providing information to the Fisheries Protection Program’s decision-making framework.

Objectives

Participants will review research documents to address the following questions:

• Is it feasible to use an equivalent adult approach as a common metric for discussing impacts to habitat quantity and/or quality on freshwater Canadian fish?
• Is it feasible to use fish production (or production forgone) as a common metric for discussing impacts to habitat quantity and/or quality?
• What are the appropriate groupings of data (e.g., body size, ecosystem type)?
• What are the preliminary estimates of the amounts of habitat (e.g. orders of magnitude) required to produce one equivalent adult in the appropriate groupings identified in #3?
• If both approaches are feasible, are there circumstances where one may be more appropriate than the other?

Expected Publications

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

Participation

• Fisheries and Oceans Canada (Ecosystems and Oceans Science, Fisheries Protection Program)
• Academia
• Other invited experts