Terms of Reference

Ecological Risk Criteria to Support Integrated Oceans Management

National Peer Review – National Capital Region

December 9-11, 2014
Ottawa, Ontario

Chairpersons: Jake Rice and Andrea White

Context

Integrated Oceans Management (IOM) is an approach to planning and managing human activities in order to reduce the potential for conflict and to ensure the sustainable use of marine resources and the shared use of ocean space.  IOM is central to oceans management at Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) as per the Oceans Act, Canada’s Ocean Strategy, the Policy and Operational Framework for Integrated Management of Estuarine, Coastal, and Marine Environments in Canada, and the National Framework for Canada's Network of Marine Protected Areas and the National Framework for Establishing and Managing Marine Protected Areas. A number of Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) advisory processes related to addressing aspects of IOM have already taken place (e.g. biogeographic classification, identification of Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSA), conservation objectives for Marine Protected Areas (MPA), development of Pathways of Effects models, selection of ecological indicators, etc.).

A key component of IOM is a consistent approach to the identification of marine areas that are experiencing human-induced pressures, the evaluation of the risks to the ecosystem associated with those pressures, and the selection of appropriate measures that will maintain or mitigate the impacts of such pressures within pre-defined tolerance levels.  The ‘ISO 31000:2009 Risk Management - Principles and Guidelines’ is a tool that can facilitate risk management in the marine environment; however, ecological risk criteria that can be consistently applied independent of time, scale, location, and activity are required for the integrated management of Canadian oceans.  For the purposes of this advisory process, ‘criteria’ is defined as categories indicating varying degrees of risk (e.g. high, medium, low).

This advisory process aims to produce a set of ecological risk criteria that are scientifically sound and that are operational for the management of human activities in Canadian oceans (e.g. EBSAs, MPAs, and other areas).  These ecological risk criteria will assist in determining the level of risk to ecosystem features from human activities and may inform the selection of management measures to minimise these risks.

Objectives

This advisory process will:

1. Review the ecological risk criteria included in the draft document ‘Ecological Risk Criteria to Support Decision Making and Management in the Oceans Management Program (November 2013)’;
2. Consider existing Departmental ecological risk criteria (e.g. the Fisheries Protection Program, Species At Risk Program, previous work within the Oceans program, etc.) and non-DFO ecological risk criteria, where appropriate; and
3. Draft ecological risk criteria based on 1) and 2) that may be applied independent of time, scale, location, and activity, and which include clear indications of the boundaries between each risk criterion.

Note that the level of risk tolerance considered appropriate in oceans management and decision-making will not be discussed at this advisory process.

Expected Publications

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

Participation

• Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) (e.g. Ecosystems and Oceans Science and Ecosystems and Fisheries Management sectors)
• Other invited experts