Engagement on the science-based whale review

A summary of what was heard
March 2018

Engagement on the Science-based Whale Review
A Summary of What was Heard

Prepared by the consortium of Nielsen, Delaney + Associates, PubliVate.
Contract #: FP918-17-0001

Ce document est également disponible en français.

Table of Contents

• Complete Text
• 1. Executive Summary
• 2. Project Background
• 3. Summary of Engagement Strategy
  • 3.1 Targeted Input
  • 3.2 Open Public Engagement
• 4. Summary of What We Heard
  • 4.1 Who Did We Hear From?
  • 4.2 Understanding the Findings
  • 4.3 How the Following Sections are Organized
• 5. Prey Availability
  • 5.1 Summary of Key Themes
  • 5.2 What Indigenous Groups Said
  • 5.3 What Governments and Other Stakeholders Said
  • 5.4 What the General Public Said
• 6. Entanglements
  • 6.1 Summary of Key Themes
  • 6.2 What Indigenous Groups Said
  • 6.3 What Governments and Other Stakeholders Said
  • 6.4 What the General Public Said
• 7. Acoustic Disturbance and Vessel Presence
  • 7.1 Summary of Key Themes
  • 7.2 What Indigenous Groups Said
  • 7.3 What Governments and Other Stakeholders Said
  • 7.4 What the General Public Said
• 8. Vessel Strikes
  • 8.1 Summary of Key Themes
  • 8.2 What Indigenous Groups Said
  • 8.3 What Governments and Other Stakeholders Said
  • 8.4 What the General Public Said
• 9. Contaminants
  • 9.1 Summary of Key Themes
  • 9.2 What Indigenous Groups Said
  • 9.3 What Governments and Other Stakeholders Said
  • 9.4 What the General Public Said
• 10. Conclusions - Readiness to Move Actions Forward
  • 10.1 Common Themes across All Threats
  • 10.2 Roles and Leadership
  • 10.3 Improved Coordination and Communication
  • 10.4 Future Engagement and Consultation
  • 10.5 Region-specific Actions
• 11. Appendices
  • Appendix A: Who We Heard From
  • Appendix B. Profile of Respondents – Let’s Talk Whales Online Engagement
  • Appendix C: Engagement Questions

4. Summary of What We Heard

4.1 Who Did We Hear From?

A total of 117 groups or organizations and 182 individuals participated in the regional in person/webinar meetings. An additional 31 written submissions were received as follow-up to those meetings. See Appendix A for details on Who We Heard From.

A total of 893 individuals registered to participate in the online engagement Let's Talk Whales (for all three endangered whale populations), of which:

• 284 responded to the Food Availability questionnaire;
• 228 people responded to the Entanglements questionnaire;
• 245 responded to the Underwater Noise questionnaire;
• 242 responded to the Vessels questionnaire;
• 209 responded to the Contaminants questionnaire;
• 160 participants contributed a total of 193 ideas in the Ideas Forum. ^{Footnote 7}

Most people who provided their feedback online self-identified as general public (see Figure 3). When asked to self-rate how well-informed they were on each of the threats, most people felt they were informed to some degree. Ninety percent of respondents were either actively engaged in the issues (16%), felt well-informed (46%), or that they knew some facts (28%) (see Figure 4). ^{Footnote 8}

In addition, close to 2000 written submissions were received from the general public. Most of these submissions (over 85%) were e-mails sent to Fisheries and Oceans Canada as part of environmental non-governmental organization campaigns to increase engagement (Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, David Suzuki Foundation, and Georgia Straight Alliance). These e-mails were copies of form letters created by the campaigns; in some cases, respondents added their own feedback to the form letter. Environmental non-governmental organizations also posted ideas on the Ideas Forum.

4.2 Understanding the Findings

The two main components of the engagement strategy were designed as complementary and therefore provide different types of feedback:

• The stakeholder engagement process was designed to hear initial reactions from informed governments, Indigenous groups and stakeholders to the priority management actions identified in the Phase 1 science assessment reports and to explore how to collectively move forward to support and implement effective management actions. The approach was designed to "take the pulse" of participants and did not seek to develop consensus.
• The public engagement process was designed to educate Canadians on the threats to endangered whales, gauge their level of awareness of the issues, invite their thoughts on some of the actions identified by scientists to reduce the threats, and provide a public space for them to share their own ideas for action.

Therefore, results of the Phase 2 engagement process should be viewed as a mosaic of opinions from a range of people, from those with a high level of in-depth expert knowledge on the issues through to people new to the issues who were interested enough to visit the online portal, respond to the surveys and offer their own ideas.

The findings from the engagement of governments, Indigenous groups and stakeholders and the public engagement were analyzed separately, as was the regional or whale-specific feedback. The analysis took into consideration that:

• Stakeholders who participated in regional in person/webinar meetings received the Summary Report of the Phase 1 findings one week in advance. At the session, they heard a presentation that introduced the priority management actions and they had an opportunity to ask clarifying questions. Furthermore, many participants, if not most, had been active in understanding threats to endangered whales, and involved in the Species at Risk Act recovery planning process and/or its implementation.
• People who gave their feedback through the online public engagement may or may not have had previous background on the issues and/or read the material available online. They did not have a chance to ask clarifying questions or to reflect on the experience of others, with the exception of the comments posted on the Ideas Forum.

Caution is needed in reviewing the results of the in person/webinar meetings and public online engagement. The online engagement was not designed to yield results that would be representative of the Canadian population. In person/webinar participation generally was impacted by the short timelines and the timing of the engagement session (i.e., over the summer).

4.3 How the Following Sections are Organized

Sections 5 to 9 each focus on one of the major threats to the endangered whale populations identified in Phase 1:

•  Prey availability;
•  Entanglements;
•  Acoustic disturbance and Vessel Presence;
•  Vessel Strikes; and
•  Contaminants.

Each section includes a brief description of the threat and feedback on priority management actions ^{Footnote 10} received from meetings, written submissions, and via the online portal (Let's Talk Whales). Feedback is organized by a summary of key themes (for the whale populations affected by the threat) and by what we heard from Indigenous groups, Government and other stakeholders, and the general public.

Section 10, Conclusions - Feedback on Readiness to Move Forward, presents common themes that apply to all three endangered whale populations and that have implications for the federal government and all regions across Canada.