Terms of Reference

Review of a Risk-Based Framework for assessing Cumulative Impacts of Marine Development Projects (MDPs) on Marine Mammals and Turtles

National Peer Review - National Capital Region

March 3-5, 2015
Ottawa, Ontario

Chairperson: Garry Stenson

Context

Fisheries & Oceans Canada (DFO) has requested the development of a national approach and minimum standards for assessing the impacts of Marine Development Projects (MDP) on marine mammals. In particular, clear guidance is needed as to the information required from proponents to assess impacts adequately, the criteria to determine probability and magnitude of impacts, approaches to the management of uncertainty, and ways to cumulate impacts at the population and regional levels.

There is a need for the industry, and a desire by Federal and Provincial/Territorial governments to ensure an efficient regulatory review process for MDP. However, the lack of clear guidance and a national approach to impact assessment may lead to a perception of inter-regional and inter-project inconsistency, and unfairness in the reviews, and often result in iterative dialogue and extended periods of review.

An initial international workshop was held by Fisheries & Oceans Canada (DFO) in Quebec City in March 2014 to solicit opinions from experts with experience in impact assessment approaches to guide the development of the draft national risk-based framework. Topics discussed at this first workshop included aspects related to noise exposure as well as collision risks, including:

1. Advances since Southall et al. (2007), and the most appropriate measurement methods and frequency weighting for assessing injury takes and behavioural responses to pulsed and non-pulsed sounds,
2. Review  models developed to assess collision risks, taking into account species-specific vulnerability criteria to determine probability and magnitude of impacts against population productivity, conservation status, and nature of the risk source,
3. Identify means to incorporate uncertainty into the risk assessment framework, and to cumulate MDP impacts at population and regional levels, and
4. How these components could be incorporated into a framework.

Based on the discussions held during the first workshop, a final framework will be presented for formal peer-review by DFO and international experts in the field of acoustics, population dynamics, risk-assessment, cumulative impact assessment, and behavioural ecology. This scientific advice will become a national standard for DFO when assessing impacts of MDP on marine mammals, and be used to develop guidelines to the industry for addressing marine mammal issues in their Environmental Impact Statements (EISs). This standard might also provide the basis for similar efforts for other marine biota.

Objectives

1. Review the draft framework to risk analysis and assessment (based on recommendations from the first workshop), and the proposed guidelines regarding the information required from proponents to assess impacts of MDPs adequately.
2. Review information on the criteria to determine the probability and magnitude of impacts from various stressors on marine mammals and sea turtles. Identify data gaps and proposed methods to address them.
3. Provide direction on methods to assess combined and cumulative impacts at the regional and population levels.

Expected publications

• Science Advisory Report
• Proceedings
• Research Documents

Participation

• Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) (Oceans and Fisheries Policy, Ecosystems and Oceans Science, Fisheries Protection Program, Ecosystems and Fisheries Management, Species at Risk)
• Academic and other scientific experts
• Offshore Petroleum Boards
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
• Joint Nature Conservation Committee (United Kingdom)
• Inuvialuit Joint Secretariat

References

Southall, B.L., Bowles, A.E., Ellison, W.T., Finneran, J.J., Gentry, R.L., Greene, C.R.J., Kastak, D., Ketten, D.R., Miller, J.H., Nachtigall, P.E., Richardson, W.J., Thomas, J.A., and Tyack, P.L. 2007. Marine mammal noise exposure criteria: Initial scientific recommendations. Aquat. Mamm. 33(4): 411-521.