Terms of Reference

Science advice on revisiting Pathways of Effects (PoE) diagrams in support of FFHPP risk assessment

National Advisory Meeting – National Capital Region

February 23-26, 2021, 10am-12pm and 1-3pm (EST)
Virtual meeting

Chairperson: Karen Smokorowski and Karin Ponader

Context

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO)`s Fish and Fish Habitat Protection Program (FFHPP) has a regulatory regime in place to avoid, mitigate and offset the negative effects of projects on fish and fish habitat. In order to understand these negative effects, linkages need to be made between the works, undertakings and activities (WUAs), the ‘pressure’ by which WUAs affect the ecosystem, and the resulting ‘endpoints’ affecting fish and fish habitat (Figure 1).

 

Work, undertaking or activity (WUA)	A human action that may impose one or more pressures on fish and fish habitat.
Pressures	The mechanism  by which a human activity (or WUA) changes the state of a fish habitat component and leads to an impact.
Endpoint	Measurable change to a fish habitat component caused by a WUA through one or more pressures.

 

The FFHPP relies upon existing Pathways of Effects (PoE) diagrams to support regional practitioners in identifying and communicating the effects of proposed works, undertakings, and activities on fish and fish habitat. Through changes to the modernized Fisheries Act in 2019, the FFHPP now has a higher regulatory standard through which proposed works, undertakings and activities will be reviewed. However, there are concerns that existing PoE diagrams cannot be applied in a consistent manner in support of the regulatory review of projects, and in the assessment of their risks to fish and fish habitat. To effectively manage fish and fish habitat, it will be necessary to have scientifically validated PoE diagrams for common WUA categories that will enable their consistent use for the assessment of effects nationally.

To facilitate the consistent assessment of projects under the Fisheries Act, FFHPP has reworked existing PoE diagrams and consolidated them into fewer diagrams that align with their categories of WUAs. The original 20 diagrams were simplified and consolidated into four categories: 1) land-based WUAs, 2) in-water WUAs, 3) WUAs affecting flow, and 4) noise and energy producing WUAs. It is thus important to ensure that the pathways and linkages to resulting endpoints on fish and fish habitat are accurate, valid, comprehensive, and complete. The restructured and validated PoE diagrams, and the standardization of their use, will help determine where a project fits in the FFHPP Risk Management Framework, and ultimately whether the project requires a non-regulatory (e.g., letter of advice), or regulatory (e.g., authorization) instrument.

DFO’s FFHPP has therefore requested the Canadian Science Advice Secretariat to conduct a peer review of the revised PoE diagrams, including consideration of their redesign, validation of existing linkages, and assessment of completeness of the linkages. Revised and validated PoE diagrams will allow the FFHPP to consider impacts of project types in a consistent manner, and to understand the impacts of a project at the site and ecosystem level. This will help ensure that fish and fish habitat are conserved and protected consistently across the country.

Objectives

Participants will review Working Paper(s) and other information to address the following objectives:

1. Review and validate the pathways included in the revised PoE diagrams to ensure they are accurate and valid.  
2. Assess whether the linkages between the WUAs, pressures and endpoints on fish and fish habitat are comprehensive and complete.
3. Determine if the process of using these revised PoE diagrams allows FFHPP to identify which endpoints require avoidance and mitigation measures to reduce and manage the risk that the proposed WUA will impair the habitat`s capacity to support the life processes of fish (or result in death of fish), and to clearly identify residual impacts to be evaluated for authorization and offset, thus ensuring that fish and fish habitat are conserved and protected.

It is expected that this process will also have synergy with other current CSAS processes focused on freshwater habitat science advice, namely estimating impacts and offsets for death of fish and understanding cumulative effects across freshwater landscapes.

Expected Publications

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

Expected Participation

• Fisheries and Oceans Canada (Ecosystems and Oceans Science, Ecosystems Management, Biodiversity Management)
• Academia
• Other invited experts