Extinction by Miscalculation:

Species at Risk Act, Sakinaw sockeye, Cultus sockeye, fisheries management, extinction.

The Nearshore Fish Fauna of Bonne Bay, a Fjord within Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland

A standardized survey of the nearshore fish fauna of Bonne Bay, a fjord within Gros Morne National Park in western Newfoundland, was conducted using beach seines, gill-nets and bottom trawls during the month of June over a seven year period (2002- 2008). The survey documents the presence of 31 fish species (in 17 taxonomic families). Sampling sites varied in benthic habitat and associated fish assemblages. Both juvenile and adult life history stages of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) were present in Bonne Bay, suggesting the presence of a local population or “bay cod stock”. Acadian redfish (Sebastes fasciatus) live in the bay, and may be members of a genetically differentiable population of redfish. Striped wolfish (Anarhichas lupus), a fish species protected under Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA), inhabits Bonne Bay. Surrounded by Gros Morne National Park, this bay with a diverse fish fauna is a focus of local stewardship and conservation efforts

Canada’s Species at Risk Act and Atlantic Salmon: Cascade of Promises, Trickles of Protection, Sea of Challenges

This article reviews through a three-part format the role and efficacy of the Species at Risk Act (SARA) in trying to save SARA-listed inner Bay of Fundy (iBoF) Atlantic salmon and other Atlantic salmon populations at risk from the brink of extinction. The cascade of SARA promises is first discussed, including: the independent assessment of the status of the species based on best available scientific information; the protection of listed species, their residences and critical habitat; and the two-stage recovery planning process. The trickles of protection actually delivered by SARA in relation to Atlantic salmon are next described, including the recent adoption of a Recovery Strategy and identification of critical freshwater habitat. The sea of challenges in implementing SARA and in strengthening the protective net outside SARA is finally highlighted. Particular challenges include: overcoming the slow implementation of the Act; addressing scientific limitations of the Recovery Strategy; forging a clear agenda for recovery actions; confronting limitations in incidental harm permitting; protecting critical habitat; getting a grip on protection and recovery of other Atlantic salmon populations at risk; bolstering environmental assessment; enhancing provincial engagement in recovery efforts; ensuring full implementation of Canada’s Oceans Act; and charting future directions for the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization

Revelstoke mountain caribou recovery: An independent review of predator-prey-habitat interactions

In May 2002, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) designated woodland caribou (including the mountain ecotype) within the Southern Mountains National Ecological Area as “threatened”.  Under the federal Species at Risk Act, the Government of BC must prepare a Recovery Plan that would provide direction to ultimately “de-list” mountain  caribou as a threatened species, if feasible

Conservation status of caribou in the western mountains of Canada: Protections under the species at risk act, 2002-2014

In April 2014, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) reviewed the status of caribou in the western mountains of Canada, in keeping with the ten-year reassessment mandate under the Species at Risk Act. Assessed as two ‘nationally significant’ populations in 2002, COSEWIC revised the conservation units for all caribou in Canada, recognising eleven extant Designatable Units (DUs), three of which -- Northern Mountain, Central Mountain, and Southern Mountain -- are found only in western Canada. The 2014 assessment concluded that the condition of many subpopulations in all three DUs had deteriorated. As a result of small and declining population sizes, the Central Mountain and Southern Mountain DUs are now recognised as endangered. Recent declines in a number of Northern Mountain DU subpopulations did not meet thresholds for endangered or threatened, and were assessed as of special concern. Since the passage of the federal Species at Risk Act in 2002, considerable areas of habitat were managed or conserved for caribou, although disturbance from cumulative human development activities has increased during the same period. Government agencies and local First Nations are attempting to arrest the steep decline of some subpopulations by using predator control, maternal penning, population augmentation, and captive breeding. Based on declines, future developments and current recovery effects, we offer the following recommendations: 1) where recovery actions are necessary, commit to simultaneously reducing human intrusion into caribou ranges, restoring habitat over the long term, and conducting short-term predator control, 2) carefully consider COSEWIC’s new DU structure for management and recovery actions, especially regarding translocations, 3) carry out regular surveys to monitor the condition of Northern Mountain caribou subpopulations and immediately implement preventative measures where necessary, and 4) undertake a proactive, planned approach coordinated across jurisdictions to conserve landscape processes important to caribou conservation

The Rule-of-Law Underpinnings of Endangered Species Protection: Minister of Fisheries and Oceans v. David Suzuki Foundation, 2012 FCA 40

Environmental organizations have experienced a string of recent courtroom successes enforcing the federal Species At Risk Act. This case comment examines one of these cases, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans v. David Suzuki Foundation (“Killer Whales”), to expose the rule-of-law underpinnings of the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision. It argues that, while the decision is on its face an ostensible victory for endangered species protection, the conception of the rule of law on which the court relies is incapable of providing meaningful legal constraints for much environmental decision-making

Scientific Review for the Identification of Critical Habitat for Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), Boreal Population, in Canada

Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), Boreal Population (herein referred to as boreal caribou), are formally listed as Threatened under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA). The Act requires the Minister of Environment to prepare a Recovery Strategy for the species that includes, to the extent possible and based upon the best available information, an identifi cation of its Critical Habitat and/or, if there is insuffi cient information available, a Schedule of Studies to determine that information. In August 2007, Environment Canada (EC) launched a science-based review with the mandate to identify Critical Habitat to the extent possible, using the best available science and/or prepare a Schedule of Studies

The Species at Risk Act (2002) and transboundary species listings along the US-Canada border

This paper is a collaborative interdisciplinary examination of the scientific, political, and cultural determinants of the conservation status of mammal species that occur in both Canada and the USA. We read Canada’s Species at Risk Act as a document of bio-cultural nationalism circumscribed by the weak federalism and Crown–Indigenous relations of the nation’s constitution. We also provide a numerical comparison of at-risk species listings either side of the US–Canada border and examples of provincial/state listings in comparison with those at a federal level. We find 17 mammal species listed as at-risk in Canada as distinct from the USA, and only 6 transboundary species that have comparable levels of protection in both countries, and we consider several explanations for this asymmetry. We evaluate the concept of ‘jurisdictional rarity’, in which species are endangered only because a geopolitical boundary isolates a small population. The paper begins and ends with reflections on interdisciplinary collaboration, and our findings highlight the importance of considering and explicitly acknowledging political influences on science and conservation-decision making, including in the context of at-risk-species protection

Judicial Oversight in the Comparative Context: Biodiversity Protection in the United States, Australia, and Canada

How effective are courts as policymaking institutions? Generally speaking, courts play a far larger role in American biodiversity law than they do in comparable Australian and Canadian statutory programs. As a result, studying endangered species protection offers a useful way to identify and isolate the policy impacts of judicial intervention. In the two cases I examine, the American system functioned at least as well as, and sometimes better than, the biodiversity programs in Australia and Canada. Contrary to most scholarship on the topic, lawsuits did not appear to slow the American policymaking process significantly; rather, litigation helped enforce important legal provisions and forced government officials to address critical shortcomings in their regulatory actions. At least in these cases, then, litigation acted as a productive and useful part of the policymaking process.Governmen

Unresolved Legacies: Aboriginal Food Production Landscapes, Ecosystem Recovery Strategies & Land Use Planning for Conservation of the Garry Oak Ecosystems in South-Western British Columbia

In Canada, aboriginal legacies in landscapes and their implications for land use planning for biodiversity conservation remain poorly acknowledged. Similarly, inter-cultural conversations on values about and priorities for biological resources and habitat protection remain under-developed. This essay begins with a rhetorical question. Will it be possible to forge successful ecosystem recovery strategies, to maintain all elements of local biological diversity through land use planning, without far deeper cognizance of the aboriginal legacies in Canadian landscapes? I do not think so. This discussion, from the drier enclaves on the south coast of British Columbia, centres on a federally funded ecosystem recovery team in the first four years of its operation from 1999 to 2003 and the near total lack of outreach to, and engagement with, aboriginal people and First Nations. These were the same years as the final phase of development of Canada’s relatively weak Species At Risk Act (SARA).2