Species at Risk Act annual report for 2018: chapter 7

7. Monitoring

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) collects information on species at risk from its protected areas and through its migratory bird program. Federal funding programs administered by ECCC and, in some cases, co-managed by the department, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and Parks Canada Agency (PCA) (including the Habitat Stewardship Program, the Aboriginal Fund for Species at Risk and the Interdepartmental Recovery Fund), also support monitoring activities. Information from these initiatives, along with information from partner organizations and researchers, allows the tracking of progress towards meeting recovery goals.

In 2018, ECCC continued to contribute data used to assess species at risk. For example, the following activities were undertaken in support of at risk migratory bird conservation in Quebec.

• employees participated in bird banding activities for Piping Plover in the Magdalen Islands
• employees and volunteers participated in ongoing Chimney Swift roost inventories at 45 sites
• activities to monitor the migration of Red Knot at the Mingan Archipelago research station
• undertook a search to locate Bank Swallow nesting sites in Southern Quebec
• confirmed the presence of Least Bittern in critical habitat areas and other potential habitat sites in the St-Lawrence Lowlands were surveyed
• automated acoustic recorders were used to detect the presence of Yellow Rails in habitat areas historically used by the species in Southwestern and Northwestern Quebec

DFO is actively involved in collecting information in support of aquatic species at risk recovery. For example, in 2018, DFO was involved in the planning, coordination and conduct of a large-scale, multi-region aerial monitoring program for North Atlantic Right Whales and other SARA listed species such as Blue Whale, Northern Bottlenose Whales, and Leatherback Sea Turtles in Atlantic Canada. The results of these activities were presented and peer-reviewed at the National Marine Mammal Peer Review Committee Meeting in Montreal. Other research activities led to the enhancement of acoustic capacity to improve acoustic detection of Killer Whales, Beluga, and Right Whales. Additionally, as a result of the first ever study of large whale movement using satellite tags, DFO tagged two Fin Whales and four Humpback Whales in Atlantic Canada. Any additional knowledge gained from monitoring activities will advance species recovery measures and hopefully lead to improvements to aquatic species at risk status over time.

In 2018, DFO hosted a Pre-COSEWIC peer-review meeting on Fin Whale to provide information on this species to COSEWIC. The Department also reviewed 26 COSEWIC status reports for aquatic wildlife species before they were finalized.

PCA protected heritage places monitor various ecosystem indicators and species at risk. In 2018, the progress of activities in PCA’s final multi-species action plans was tracked in PCA’s national ecological monitoring database system. The information obtained from monitoring activities and action plan targets is used to determine progress towards achieving both the population and distribution objectives and recovery measures, as outlined in the multi-species action plans.

In 2018, PCA continued to track the distribution of the species found within the lands and waters it administers. This information contributes to the COSEWIC status reports. PCA also reviewed 80 COSEWIC status reports in 2018 for both terrestrial and aquatic species that are found in the lands and waters it administers.