Fisheries sustainability survey questions - 2016

Section 1

Implementation of the Fishery Decision-Making Framework Incorporating the Precautionary Approach

Some of these questions are used to report on indicators in the Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators report and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy. These questions are designed to evaluate the implementation of the Fishery Decision-Making Framework Incorporating the Precautionary Approach.

1 – Stock Reference Points

• 1.1 - Upper Stock Reference (point dividing the cautious and the healthy zones)
  • Yes
  • No
• 1.2 - What is the USR? (open text entry)
• 1.3 - How was the USR developed?
  • Non-Peer Review Process
  • Scientific Peer Review Process
• 1.4 - Limit Reference Point
  • Yes
  • No
• 1.5 - What is the LRP? (open text entry)
• 1.6 - How was the LRP developed?
  • Non-Peer Review Process
  • Scientific Peer Review Process
• 1.7 - If this stock is a marine mammal, does it have a Potential Biological Removal?
  • Yes
  • No
• 1.8 - How many marine mammals are removed and for what purpose? (open text entry)

2 – Stock Status

• 2.1 - What is the current stock status zone for this stock?:
  • Critical Zone
  • Cautious Zone
  • Healthy Zone
  • Uncertain

Selecting “Uncertain” does not mean that that status of the stock is unknown. DFO has sufficient information to manage the fisheries on these stocks.

• 2.2 - How was the stock status zone determined?
  • Scientific peer review process
  • Expert judgement
• 2.3 - provide the rationale of list of required documentation for using expert judgement
• 2.4 - (Where the stock status is Uncertain) Since the stock status zone for this stock is uncertain, select an option:
  • Serious harm likely
  • Serious harm possible
  • Serious harm unlikely
  • N/A – automatically selected if you are able to assign a PA stock status zone

3 – Removal References

• 3.1 - Has a removal reference been identified for when the stock is in the:
  • Critical Zone
  • Cautious Zone
  • Healthy Zone
• 3.2 - (When listed as Uncertain) Is there a removal reference for this stock?

4 – Harvest Decision Rules

• 4.1 - For this stock, harvest decision rules that aim to control exploitation:
  • Have not been developed
  • Have been developed, but not implemented or evaluated
  • Have been developed, implemented but not evaluated
  • Have been developed, implemented and evaluated

5 – Harvest Rate

• 5.1 - What was the fishing harvest rate or harvest level in relation to the removal reference for the zone that the stock currently occupies (in 2016)?:
  • Harvest rate at or below removal reference
  • Harvest rate above removal reference
  • No removal reference
• 5.2 - If no removal reference is in place, what was the harvest rate in relation to approved harvest levels for the stock?
  • The stock is harvested within approved levels
  • The stock is harvested not within approved levels

6 – Rebuilding Plan

• 6.1 - If this stock is in the Critical zone, or serious harm is possible, or serious harm is likely, is there a rebuilding plan in place?:
  • Yes
  • No

7 – Moratorium

• 7.1 - Is the directed commercial fishery(ies) on this stock currently under moratorium?
  • Yes
  • No
• 7.2 - If Yes is selected provide a prompt in the comments section to describe the nature of the moratorium.

Section 2

The status of fishery management plans

These questions assess the status of integrated fishery management plans and other fishery plans. (e.g. Conservation Harvesting Plans or other plans)

8 – Integrated Fisheries Management Plans

• 8.1 - Is this stock part of an integrated fisheries management plan (IFMP)?
  • Yes
  • No
• 8.2 - In the absence of an IFMP, is there a harvest plan in place for this stocks (i.e., Conservation harvesting Plans or other fishing plans)?
  • Yes
  • No
• 8.3 - Is there an annual process to review the performance of the IFMP or harvest plan, including assessing the effectiveness of the management measures?
  • Yes
  • No

Implementation of the Policy for Managing Bycatch:

These questions are designed to evaluate the implementation of the Policy for Managing Bycatch. It is possible that fisheries on the tracked stocks can have one, both or neither retained or non-retained bycatch.

9 – Bycatch

• 9.1a - Is there retained, non-directed bycatch in this fishery(ies)?
• 9.2a - Has the risk of fishery(ies) to the following categories of bycatch been evaluated for Retained, non-directed species?
• 9.3a - Are there bycatch management measures in place to address the risk identified for Retained, non-directed species?
• 9.4a - Please provide a rationale for selecting that measures are in place when the risk has not been evaluated for Retained, non-directed Species
• 9.5a - Has an assessment of the bycatch management measures determined that the measures are working to achieve their objectives for the Retained, non-directed species of bycatch?
  

• 9.1b - Is there non-retained, non-directed bycatch in this fishery(ies)?
• 9.2b - Has the risk of fishery(ies) to the following categories of bycatch been evaluated for Non-retained, non-directed species?
• 9.3b - Are there bycatch management measures in place to address the risk identified for Non-retained, non-directed species?
• 9.4b - Please provide a rationale for selecting that measures are in place when the risk has not been evaluated for Non-retained, non-directed Species
• 9.5b - Has an assessment of the bycatch management measures determined that the measures are working to achieve their objectives for the Non-retained, non-directed species of bycatch?

Species at Risk management:

These questions are designed to evaluate the integration of recovery objective mitigation measures into fisheries management plans for stocks that interact with the Species at Risk Act (SARA) listed species. To be used for 5 year reporting of recovery documents.

10 - Species at Risk

• 10.1 - Do fishery(ies) for this stock interact with SARA-listed species?
  • Yes
  • No

"Interact" means intercept in gear or a likelihood of intercepting SARA-listed species.

• 10.2 - Are there mitigation measures in place (in the IFMP or other management plans) to reduce or avoid harm, mortality, or harassment of SARA-listed species that interact with fishery(ies) for this stocks?
  • Yes
  • No

General comments (<100 words)

This section, found at the end of the survey, is intended for further explanations for a given stock, clarifications of how the survey is applied to multiple fisheries for the same stock, elaborate on how questions were answered for aggregate stocks, etc.