St. Andrews Biological Station Species at Risk Group

The Species at Risk Act (SARA) was established to fulfill Canada's commitment to provide protection and recovery for species at risk in Canada. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has initiated Species at Risk Programs in a number of laboratories across Canada to undertake research required for successful implementation of the Act. The Species at Risk team at the St Andrews Biological Station includes: Dr. Rob Stephenson, Dr. Kent Smedbol, Dr. Ed Trippel, Ms. Lei Harris, Ms. Terry Johnston and Mr. Sean Smith.

The work of the Species at Risk group is focused in three areas;

1. Listed species

The group conducts research on species that have been designated by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) as being "endangered", "threatened" or "of special concern" in Canadian waters. The species for which we are responsible include:

• Right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) - Endangered
• Harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) - Special Concern
• Northern bottlenose whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus) - Endangered (Scotian Shelf Population)
• Cusk (Brosme brosme) - Threatened

Several groups of international scientists currently conduct research on these species. With our research, we hope to contribute to the current body of work and to fill the gaps in knowledge of these species.

2. Candidate species

DFO has a wealth of current and historical information pertaining to marine fish species, derived from research surveys, research projects and commercial fisheries. Research and data require screening in order to determine whether any marine species are at risk of extinction. We provide peer-reviewed summaries of the status of species to be evaluated by COSEWIC (so-called 'candidate species'), as well as data to the authors of COSEWIC reports.

3. Strategic Issues

In addition to our work on listed and candidate species, which is more species specific, we are also interested in broader species at risk issues.

• Workshops on species at risk issues
• Methodological development of population assessments
• By-catch issues
  - Impact of low abundance species on fisheries, and vice versa
  - Resilience of non-target species to fishing
• Developing linkages with species experts