Species at Risk Act annual report for 2019: chapter 2
2. Assessment of species at risk
SARA defines the process for conducting assessments of the status of individual wildlife species. The Act separates the assessment process from the listing decisions, ensuring scientists provide independent assessments and that decisions affecting Canadians are made by elected officials who are accountable for those decisions.
2.1 COSEWIC assessments
The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) is made up of wildlife experts from government, academia, Indigenous organizations, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. It assesses the status of wildlife species in Canada that it considers to be at risk and identifies existing and potential threats to the species.
The federal government provides financial support to COSEWIC. Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) provides COSEWIC with professional, technical, secretarial, clerical and other assistance via the COSEWIC Secretariat, which is housed within ECCC.
COSEWIC assesses the status of a wildlife species using the best available information on the biological status of a species, including scientific knowledge, community knowledge and Indigenous Knowledge. COSEWIC prioritizes species for assessment and, as one of its sources of information, uses the general status ranks that are outlined in the report called Wild Species – The General Status of Species in Canada. This report is required under section 128 of the Act and is published every five years by ECCC and the National General Status Working Group. COSEWIC provides assessments and supporting evidence annually to the Minister.
Figure 2. Categories of wildlife species status used by COSEWIC
Categories of wildlife species status used by COSEWIC
- Extinct
Wildlife species no longer exists anywhere in the world.
- Extirpated
Wildlife species no longer exists in the wild in Canada but exists elsewhere in the world.
- Endangered
- wildlife species faces imminent extirpation or extinction.
- Threatened
- wildlife species is likely to become endangered if nothing is done to reverse the factors leading to its extirpation or extinction.
- Special concern
- wildlife species may become threatened or endangered because of a combination of biological characteristics and identified threats.
- Not at risk
- the wildlife species has no immediate risk or COSEWIC may not have sufficient information to classify the species.
- Data Deficient
- information is insufficient to: a) satisfy any criteria or assign any status, or b) resolve the wildlife species’ eligibility for assessment.
Note: More information on risk categories and COSEWIC can be found on the COSEWIC website.
ECCC, Parks Canada Agency (PCA), Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) gather and provide scientific input and Indigeous knowledge into the assessment process through staff experts as members of COSEWIC. These staff experts act independently from their organizations. Additionally, these experts contribute information to status reports from scientific activities and surveys conducted by ECCC, Parks Canada and DFO. They also conduct peer review of COSEWIC status reports, which are carried out by government scientists, experts from academia, and other stakeholders.
ECCC reviews all status reports for terrestrial species and reviews most or all reports for aquatic species. DFO reviewed 26 COSEWIC status reports and three Designatable UnitFootnote 6 reports in 2019 for aquatic wildlife species before they were finalized. Parks Canada reviewed 41 COSEWIC status reports in 2019 for both terrestrial and aquatic species that are found in the lands and waters it administers.
Baby boom for Barn Swallows at Fort Rodd Hill in 2019
Barn swallows, listed as Threatened under the Species at Risk Act, build their mud nests in the shelter of human-built structures like houses or barns. At Fort Rodd Hill & Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Sites of Canada, in Victoria, British Columbia, Barn Swallows have for decades nested under the eaves of or inside of the concrete buildings and the underground magazines (historically used to store ammunition and explosives).
Many of these structures at Fort Rodd Hill date back to the late 1800s and represent some of the only intact coastal fortifications from this time period remaining in Canada. Beginning in 2015, the three batteries at Fort Rodd Hill underwent major restoration. Prior to nesting season, artificial nest ledges and perching wire were installed in select suitable areas to encourage Barn Swallows to nest, while access was limited to nesting areas in buildings undergoing restoration by closing doors or installing physical barriers.
When a Barn Swallow pair established a nest on one of the new ledges, a sign was installed to give staff and visitors a friendly reminder to observe the nesting Barn Swallows from a safe distance. This was complemented with roving interpretation to explain the initiative to visitors.
While the goal of these species conservation actions was to maintain the same level of nesting success that the site supported in previous years, the initiative has resulted in a remarkable increase in the number of successfully fledged Barn Swallow chicks at the historic Fort. Prior to installation of the nest ledges, Fort Rodd Hill Sites saw an average of 6 nests built per year, which fledged an average of 20 chicks. By comparison, in 2019 staff counted 42 chicks fledge from 16 nests, with 67% of these chicks from the 12 nests built on the artificial nest ledges. The Barn Swallows inspired Parks Canada staff to find the delicate balance between protecting natural and cultural heritage using creative solutions.
2.1.1 COSEWIC subcommittees
COSEWIC’s Species Specialists Sub-committees (SSCs) provide species expertise to COSEWIC. Each SSC is led by two co-chairs and members are recognized Canadian experts in the taxonomic group in question with a demonstrated knowledge of wildlife conservation. Members are drawn from universities, provincial wildlife agencies, museums, Conservation Data Centres, and other sources of expertise on Canadian species. SSC members support the co-chairs in developing candidate lists of species to be considered for assessment, commissioning status reports for priority species, reviewing reports for scientific accuracy and completeness, and proposing to COSEWIC a status for each species. Currently, COSEWIC has 10 SSCs.
Figure 3. COSEWIC Sub-committees
- Amphibians and reptiles
- Arthropods
- Birds
- Freshwater fishes
- Marine fishes
- Marine mammals
- Molluscs
- Mosses and lichens
- Terrestrial mammals
- Vascular plants
COSEWIC also established an Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge Subcommittee. In 2019 this committee continued its efforts to produce:
- ATK source reports (which compile potential sources of ATK)
- ATK assessment reports (which summarize the relevant content of documented ATK sources)
- ATK gathering reports (which compile non-publicly available documented and non-documented ATK that is shared directly from Indigenous communities).
In 2019, the ATK Sub-committee also:
- held a two-day workshop in Richmond, British Columbia, to build a stronger network with Indigenous communities in BC, including the gathering of ATK related to the assessment of status of thirteen aquatic and terrestrial species
- completed a number of ATK reports for wildlife species such as Muskox, Greenland Shark, five different bat species (Tri-coloured Bat, Spotted Bat, Pallid Bat, Fringed Bat, Keen's Long-eared Bat), eleven different shorebird species (American Golden-Plover, Black-bellied Plover, Dunlin, Pectoral Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, and Stilt Sandpiper), and Steelhead
- completed a Planning FrameworkFootnote 7 on Steelhead within the Secwepemc territory of the Thompson River watershed of British Columbia; and
- completed a ATK Gathering Report on Steelhead in the Nlak’apamux Nation traditional territory in the Thompson River watershed of British Columbia
Ongoing work includes the prioritization and selection of wildlife species for ATK reports, as well as the review of COSEWIC status reports to ensure that available ATK is appropriately and accurately integrated.
In 2019, DFO hosted two pre-COSEWIC peer-review meetings, one on Northern Abalone and another on American Plaice. The objective of the pre-COSEWIC meeting is to peer-review existing DFO information relevant to the COSEWIC status assessment of a given species in Canadian waters. Data related to the status of, the threats to, as well as the trends related to this species inside and outside of Canadian waters, are considered, along with the strengths and limitations of the information.
2.2 Wildlife species
From 2002 to 2019, COSEWIC assessed and classified more than 900 wildlife species in 16 batches. Batch 17, consisting of 56 wildlife species, was assessed between November 2018 to April 2019. COSEWIC forwarded these assessments to the Minister of the Environment in October 2019, which included:
- Two wildlife species examined and found to be data deficient
- Two wildlife species assessed as not at risk
- No wildlife species assessed as extinct
- 52 wildlife species assessed as at risk, of which 15 were confirmed at the classification already attributed to them on Schedule 1 of SARA
As of April 2019, COSEWIC’s assessments include 799 wildlife species in various risk categories, including 356 endangered, 189 threatened, 232 special concern, and 22 extirpated. In addition, 18 wildlife species have been assessed as extinct. As of April 2019, 59 wildlife species have been designated as data deficient and 199 have been assessed and assigned not at risk status.