2025 to 2026 Expression of Interest: Habitat Stewardship Program for Aquatic Species at Risk

• Wolffish Species (Northern, Spotted, Atlantic)
• Leatherback and Loggerhead Sea Turtle
• Large Whale Species (Blue Whale, Fin Whale, North Atlantic Right Whale)
• Atlantic Salmon (South Newfoundland population)
• Banded Killifish

• Fisheries interactions (i.e. bycatch, entanglements)
• Vessel interactions (i.e. ship strikes, acoustic disturbances)
• Pollution and water quality
• Habitat alteration, including migration barriers
• Aquatic invasive species affecting aquatic species at risk and their habitat

• Atlantic Salmon (Inner Bay of Fundy population)
• Atlantic Whitefish
• Leatherback and Loggerhead Sea Turtle
• Whale Species (North Atlantic Right Whale, Blue Whale)
• Freshwater mussels (Yellow Lampmussel, Brook Floater)

• Habitat alteration and degradation, including climate change impacts
• Invasive and introduced species
• Fishery interactions (includes entanglement, bycatch and incidental catch)
• Vessels and vehicles interactions
• Acoustic disturbance

• Freshwater / diadromous (Atlantic salmon, Brook Floater)
• Wolffish species
• Leatherback Sea Turtle
• Whale species (North Atlantic Right Whale, Blue Whale, Fin Whale)
• Sharks and Skates (White Shark, Winter Skate)

• Physical and acoustic Disturbances (includes vessel interactions and noise)
• Fishery Interactions: Bycatch and Entanglement
• Habitat Alteration and Degradation (includes temperature, sediment/nutrient, contaminants)
• Invasive and Introduced Species
• Loss of Indigenous Knowledge specifically related to aquatic species presence and utilization of important habitats (i.e., habitats used for feeding, spawning, nursery, overwintering, or as a migratory corridor)

• St. Lawrence whales at risk (Beluga whale, Blue whale, North Atlantic right whale, Fin whale and Harbour porpoise)
• All freshwater fishes of interest to the Quebec Recovery Team “l'équipe de rétablissement des cyprins et petits percidés du Québec” (Sand Darter, Northern Sunfish, Cutlip Minnow, Channel Darter, Bridle Shiner, Grass Pickerel, Northern Brook Lamprey and Silver Lamprey)
• Copper Redhorse
• Sharks and Skates (Atlantic White Shark, Atlantic Blue Shark, Atlantic Spiny Dogfish, Channel Darter, Atlantic Basking Shark, Thorny Skate, and Smooth Skate, Laurentian-Scotian population)
• St. Lawrence diadromous species (Atlantic salmon and American eel)

• Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence (including all its tributaries)
• St. Lawrence Lowlands (see map for the delimitation of the territory), in particular, but not limited to, the Richelieu River watershed

• Anthropogenic disturbance associated with commercial shipping, whale watching and touring, or recreational boating (e.g., approach, noise, collision, wake, spill)
• Bycatch, entanglement in fishing gear, recreational and commercial fishing pressures on aquatic species at risk and the availability of their prey
• Habitat destruction and degradation (e.g., destruction of seagrass beds, bank artificialization, wave action, soil compaction or erosion, alteration of shorelines and riparian buffers, water contamination)
• Aquatic invasive species affecting aquatic species at risk and their habitat

Ontario and Prairie

(Ontario)

• Redside Dace
• Pugnose Shiner
• Pugnose Minnow
• Black Redhorse
• SARA-listed Freshwater Mussels

• Lake St. Clair and contributing watersheds
• Lake Erie and contributing watersheds
• Lake Ontario and contributing watersheds
• Lake Huron and contributing watersheds
• Lakes and contributing watersheds of Upper (western) St. Lawrence River

• Sediment/nutrient, contaminant loading
• Habitat destruction/ alteration
• Altered flows, water levels, or coastal process
• Barriers to fish passage

Ontario and Prairie

(Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta)

• Bigmouth Buffalo
• Lake Sturgeon
• Southern Prairie Species (Western Silvery Minnow, Rocky Mountain Sculpin, Plains Sucker, Plains Minnow)
• Alberta Native Trout (Athabasca Rainbow, Westslope Cutthroat, Bull)
• Native Lampreys (Northern Brook and Silver)

• Peace/Slave/Athabasca River Basin
• North and South Saskatchewan River basin
• Southern Prairie Region (Milk River, St. Mary River, Qu'Appelle River)
• Winnipeg/Red/Assiniboine River Basin
• East Slopes Rocky Mountains

• Habitat loss, destruction, degradation and disruption
• Species-specific and targeted impacts from introduced and non-introduced species
• Disease and pathogens
• Restrictions/barriers to movement
• Loss of Indigenous Knowledge specifically related to aquatic species presence and utilization of important habitats (i.e., habitats used for feeding, spawning, nursery, overwintering, or as a migratory corridor)

Arctic

(Northwest Territories and Nunavut)

• Dolly Varden (Western Arctic)
• Beluga (Cumberland Sound)
• Bull Trout (Western Arctic)
• Arctic Marine Fish
• Arctic Marine Mammals

• Foxe Basin/ Hudson Bay/Hudson Strait
• Mackenzie River tributaries/Peel River System
• Beaufort Sea/Amundsen Gulf
• Queen Maud Gulf to Lancaster Sound
• Baffin Bay/Davis Strait

• Loss of Indigenous Knowledge specifically related to the utilization of important habitats (i.e., habitats used for feeding, spawning, nursery, overwintering, or as a migratory corridor)
• Anthropogenic disturbance associated with shipping, small crafts, industry and other activities
• Struck and loss of marine mammals
• Impacts of disease, introduced and non-introduced species
• Impacts of climate change, including habitat impacts

• Cetaceans assessed by COSEWIC and/or listed under SARA as threatened or endangered
• Northern Abalone
• Freshwater species assessed as at risk by COSEWIC

• Fisheries interactions (including incidental/bycatch, entanglements, illegal harvest, prey availability)
• Physical and acoustic disturbance (vessel based), vessel strikes
• Habitat degradation and fragmentation (aquatic and riparian)
• Water quality, including contaminants
• Aquatic invasive species