Ensure effective use of restored funding to freshwater, oceans, fish stocks and aquaculture research programs.

What success looks like

Enhanced ocean and freshwater research and monitoring for improved decision making.

Government's narrative on progress

The Government of Canada has made effective use of the restored research funding for oceans and freshwater research by adding fisheries monitoring and ecosystem-level surveys in Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic waters. An ecosystem-level survey has taken place in the Arctic. These activities will generate the basis for improved evidence-based advice to inform decision-making. The first Pacific Region International Sighting Survey of Marine Megafauna took place in Summer 2018, simultaneously with a similar U.S. survey. This survey collected important information about the status of whale populations in the Pacific ocean and will inform conservation and management decisions related to these species. Near real-time scientific data is being continuously collected and shared from more than 25 new ocean observing instruments deployed in Canadian waters. These instruments gather important information about the oceans (e.g. temperature, currents, etc.) that informs the government’s work on weather prediction, climate change, fish and marine mammal status and distribution, and the selection of marine protected areas. The government has also used this funding to strengthen lab capacity for aquatic animal health diagnostic testing, which has improved diagnostic throughput by over 40%, allowing for more timely disease detection. Furthermore, aquaculture sites on both Pacific and Atlantic coasts have been selected for additional monitoring to better understand the effects of aquaculture inputs, such as drugs and pesticides and inputs of organic matter from feeds and fish feces. The data from these sites will inform advice into new regulations and standards for the aquaculture sector. Enhanced ecosystem-based research activities also help provide insight on environmental changes and form a basis for resource managers and communities to adapt to the new environmental conditions. For example, research is being undertaken on predator-prey relations linkages between benthic habitat and fisheries, and stressors in freshwater systems on fish habitat.

Note: this is the government's own description, not an independent assessment.