Science

Seal predation

• My Department ensures that the best available science is considered when making management decisions with the goal of sustaining healthy and productive aquatic ecosystems.
• In Atlantic Canada, DFO has documented the impact of grey seals on fish stocks in the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence.
• In British Columbia, DFO is working with partners and doing more science to evaluate the impact of harbour seal and sea lion predation on the ecosystem including Pacific salmon species.

Background:

• Currently, the Department manages commercial harvests for grey and harp seals in the Atlantic region; there are currently no fisheries for seals or sea lions in the Pacific region.
• There is concern from the fishing industry on both east and west coasts regarding the potential impacts of seal/sea lion predation on commercially valuable fish stocks. Substantial scientific research has been conducted over the last several decades regarding the potential impacts of seals on fish stocks in the Atlantic region. The Department has invested in a new research program on the West Coast and is working with partners on the potential impacts of seals and sea lions on fish populations.
• Science evidence to date suggests that grey seals are having an impact on the recovery of cod and other groundfish in the Southern Gulf of St Lawrence. However, there is no clear evidence that harp seals or pacific seals/sea lions are having a measurable impact on any commercially valuable fish stocks.
• The Department will use the best available science to make appropriate policy decisions going forward.

Lobster assessment and basis for season

• The Department continues to regularly monitor and assess Canadian lobster stocks to support management decisions. The outcome of these assessments are shared publically on DFO’s website.
• We also continue to increase the scientific monitoring of lobster in all four Atlantic regions to strengthen our understanding of this valuable resource.
• Lobster fishing seasons vary by area. An important conservation consideration is seeking to minimize the interaction of the fishery with important life history stages, including mating and moulting.

Background

Assessment:

• The inshore lobster fishery is an input control fishery managed using management measures that control effort, the size of animals at harvest and prohibit the landing of egg-bearing females. Total allowable catches (TAC) are not established. The offshore lobster fishery in Lobster Fishing Area (LFA) 41 is the only lobster area that is managed using a TAC, which has been set based on historical catches.
• In most LFAs, lobster is primarily assessed using fishery-dependent landings and catch data. Unreported changes in level of effort may result in increased uncertainty in the assessment. Fishery-independent information is also used, when available, and includes trawl surveys, dive surveys, and recruitment surveys that monitor young lobster before they grow large enough to be harvested in the fishery.
• In LFA 34, biomass indices from fisheries-independent trawl surveys are used as primary indicators to assess stock status. Secondary indicators, such as landings, effort and commercial catch rates, are also used to provide additional information.
• The information collected, the analysis and the conclusions are subject to a scientific peer-review process. The resulting science advice on the status of the stock then guides fisheries management decisions.
• The department is also initiating new fisheries independent surveys in some LFAs supported through the Fish Stock provisions funding from Budget 2019.

Seasonality of the fishery:

• Lobster Fishing seasons vary by area and in part attempt to minimize interactions of the fishery with important life history stages, including egg hatching, lobster molting, egg laying and mating. In many areas, seasons are set to avoid these critical times.
• Lobster growth occurs through moulting which takes place during summer to early fall. Following molt, lobsters are soft and their carapace hardens over the following weeks and months. Fishing while their carapace is not fully hardened increases injury and incidental mortality. In most lobster fishing areas, the current fishing season ends prior to this more vulnerable time.
• Increases in cumulative effort or mortality rates resulting from a change to fishing seasons or fishing out of season can be a conservation concern depending on the specific timing, the scale of the fishery, and the characteristics of the LFA.

Impact of seasonal changes to fishery dates on Science advice:

• In areas where Science advice largely depends on information from the fishery, changes to the timing of fishing and effort levels (e.g., seasonal changes, fishing out of season) would impact the advice, particularly without logbooks or other means of documenting these changes.

Lobster abundance and distribution

• American lobster is distributed throughout the northwest Atlantic, from the coast of North Carolina to the waters of Newfoundland and Labrador.
  
• Lobster are generally found in waters less than 50 metres in depth, but have been observed at depths greater than 500 metres. The largest populations are found in the Gulf of Maine and, in Canada, around Nova Scotia and the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence.
  
• Over the past decade, lobster abundance and distribution in Canadian waters appears to have been positively affected by environmental conditions and management measures in place.

Background

• The role of climate in affecting lobster abundance and distribution will likely continue to be important over the coming years. Decreases in lobster production have been observed at the southern extent of the species in New England, this has been tied to increasing temperature and disease. Whereas, in the northern Gulf of Maine and Atlantic Canada increases in lobster productivity and a range extension has been observed in most areas.
• Size limits are a critical conservation measure for the lobster fishery. Size at maturity is known to be related to environmental conditions. Generally lobsters are smaller in warmer waters, this is one of the reasons minimum carapace lengths vary between lobster fishing areas (e.g. increasing the minimum carapace length increases the amount of lobster that can potentially spawn before being vulnerable to harvest).

Lobster – impacts of concentrated effort

• Lobster stocks in Atlantic Canada are doing well; throughout the Maritimes Region, stocks are in the healthy zone with many near historic high levels.
  
• While there is uncertainty around the impact – particularly over the longer-term – that a significant increase in effort could have on lobster populations, we know there are a number of risk factors that need to be considered (including level and timing of additional harvest, population size and the amount of lobster habitat available).
  
• Additional science work is required to assess the impact of incremental and localized effort on lobster population health.

Atlantic seal science task team

• Earlier this year, we launched the Atlantic Seal Science Task Team to help generate recommendations on seal science priorities and how we can increase opportunities for collaboration with members of the fishing industry.
• Members of the Task Team include individuals from fishing industry and other stakeholders from Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.
• The Task Team has begun reviewing the state of scientific knowledge on Atlantic seals, particularly as it relates to seal predation on commercial fish stocks in Atlantic Canada and Quebec.
• The Task Team is a direct response to the concerns raised by commercial fish harvesters in Eastern Canada about the impact seal predation is having on fish stocks.

Background:

• The Task Team is co-chaired by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and Glenn Blackwood, Fisheries and Marine Institute at Memorial University. Members have a range of expertise and fisheries experience. They include:
• Bill Taylor, Atlantic Salmon Federation
• Laura Ramsey, PEI Fishermen’s Association
• Ginny Boudreau, Guysborough County Inshore Fishermen’s Association
• Jamie Snook, Torngat Joint Fisheries Board
• Kris Vascotto, Atlantic Groundfish Council
• Robert Hardy, Seafood Consultant
• Jocelyn Thériault, Regroupement des pêcheurs professionnels des Îles-de-la-Madeleine
• The Task Team will provide input on the Department’s Atlantic seal science priorities; on how to increase the fishing industry involvement in seal science projects; and on how the Department can better communicate science to the fishing industry.

The sustainable management of Canadian fisheries is important to fish harvesters. DFO works to ensure that the best available science is considered when making management decisions, including the impact of seal predation.

• The Task Team will focus only on Atlantic seals science activities and programs. The Task Team is distinct from DFO's existing Atlantic Seal Advisory Committee (ASAC) which solicits input to DFO's Minister on seal management issues, including licensing policy, management measures, quota allocations, as well as conservation and compliance issues.
• The Task Team held their first meeting on April 23, 2020 and three information sessions on the state of scientific knowledge on Atlantic seals were held during the summer and fall.

Climate change

• Canadians know climate change is real and that it poses serious risks to the future of Canada’s marine ecosystems, fisheries, and coastal communities.
• Our scientists are monitoring Canada’s oceans and conducting research into the vulnerability of fisheries and aquatic ecosystems to provide the best possible advice for decision-making.
• My Department is also working with Canadian and international partners to better understand how climate change impacts, like ocean acidification, may be affecting our marine ecosystems.

Background:

• Canada’s marine ecosystems are undergoing significant changes in their structure and dynamics, which are related to a combination of climate change, natural variability, and other human pressures.
• Climate change is impacting the oceans, its resources, ecosystems, and infrastructure in several different ways:
• Higher ocean temperatures reduce dissolved oxygen (a process known as deoxygenation) and affect fisheries distribution, health, and timing of life cycles, such as when lobsters molt;
• Ocean acidification (the long-term decrease in ocean pH as carbon dioxide is absorbed from the atmosphere) reduces the availability of calcium carbonate, making it more difficult for several marine organisms to grow shells; and
• Rising sea levels and increased frequency and severity of storm surges damage shorelines and coastal infrastructure, and harm coastal ecosystems.
• Hypoxia and ocean acidification often occur at the same time due to warmer water temperatures and the addition of land-based nutrient sources. The effects of multiple stressors can further intensify the effects on aquatic organisms and ecosystems

Ocean acidification and low oxygen

• Canadians know climate change is real and contributing to changes in the chemistry of our oceans.
• Increased levels of carbon dioxide from human activities are being absorbed by our oceans, causing ocean acidification which threatens our marine ecosystems.
• Warming water temperatures, together with the addition of nutrients from human activities, is leaving some areas depleted in oxygen which can impact marine life and coastal communities.
• Our scientists are working with our Canadian and international partners to study the impacts and drivers of ocean acidification and hypoxia and the impacts they have on our fisheries and aquatic ecosystems.

Background:

• Ocean acidification is the term used to describe the long-term change of ocean chemistry as CO2 is absorbed from the atmosphere. Since 1960, roughly one-third of all carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels have ended up in the ocean. Atmospheric carbon dioxide, when absorbed by the ocean, alters ocean chemistry by forming carbonic acid, making the ocean more acidic and reducing the availability of calcium carbonate. This can make it more difficult for several marine organisms to grow shells.
• Projections are that by 2100, the global ocean will likely be unsuitable for many species lower in the food chain, deep sea corals, and some commercially harvested organisms, including shellfish species from Canadian waters. When shell building organisms are at risk the entire food web may also be at risk due to the lack of food availability, which can cause larger ecosystem changes.
• Human-driven rising nutrient loads and climate change are altering ocean biogeochemistry and increasing oxygen consumption, leaving some aquatic zones low or depleted in dissolved oxygen. In ocean and freshwater environments, the term "hypoxia" is used when the concentration of dissolved oxygen becomes too low to support most aquatic life in a water body.
• Hypoxia occurs most often as a consequence of human-induced factors, especially nutrient pollution (also known as eutrophication) caused by agricultural runoff, fossil-fuel burning, and wastewater treatment effluent.
• Warmer ocean waters hold less dissolved oxygen and when this occurs in combination with other climate change stressors this can further exacerbate the occurrence and impacts of hypoxia.
• Hypoxia and ocean acidification often occur at the same time due to warmer water temperatures and the addition of land-based nutrient sources. The effects of multiple stressors can further intensify the effects on aquatic organisms and ecosystems.
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada is undertaking activities to understand the state and extent of ocean acidification and hypoxia and the consequences of these changes on aquatic ecosystems and commercial fisheries through routine oceanographic monitoring, targeted research and delivery of the Aquatic Climate Change Adaptation Services Program (ACCASP).

Science at DFO

• More than 2000 DFO Science employees research and monitor our oceans and aquatic ecosystems across the country. Over 90 per cent of DFO Science employees work outside Ottawa.
• In keeping with promoting women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics professions, nearly 50 per cent of DFO Science employees are women.
• DFO Science is a hub for ocean and freshwater science collaboration in Canada, with over 30 million dollars invested annually in over 300 external research projects led by Canadian universities, non-governmental and indigenous organizations, provinces and territories, and the private sector.
• Between 2016 and 2021, this government will have invested over 500 million dollars in marine and freshwater science.

Background:

• The national Ecosystems and Oceans Science (EOS) Sector employs expert scientists, biologists, technicians, hydrographers and individuals in other science-related fields. Over 90% of the workforce (2007 of 2219 employees) is located in DFO’s six operational regions.
• The EOS Sector has five main functions that support and enable DFO’s mandate: Scientific advice; Research; Monitoring; Data and information management; and, Products and services (e.g., maps, nautical charts).
• Since 2016, DFO Science has benefited from new investments in areas such as oceans and freshwater research; science to support the Oceans Protection Plan; combatting the threat of aquatic invasive species; climate change; whale protection; science support for a renewed Fisheries Act; marine conservation targets, and programs that build external scientific capacity in these and other areas of relevance to the Department.