A Regional Assessment of Ecological Attributes in Rockfish Conservation Areas in British Columbia

• Published in: DFO - Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat. Research Document Vol. 2020; no. 2020/026
• Main Authors: Dunham, J S, Yu, F, Haggarty, D, Deleys, N, Yamanaka, L
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Ottawa Fisheries and Oceans Canada 01.01.2020
• Subjects: Bathymetric data; Benthic environment; Biological drift; Coastal oceanography; Coastal waters; Dispersion; Environmental protection; Fishery management; Fishing pressure; Home range; Kelp; Larval settlement; Life history; Living resources; Marine; Marine parks; Migrations; Moratoria; Nature conservation; Population number; Protected areas; Reefs; Seaweeds; Sebastes caurinus; Sebastes maliger; Sebastes melanops; Sebastes nebulosus; Sebastes nigrocinctus; Sebastes ruberrimus; Water depth; INE, Canada, British Columbia
• ISSN: 1499-3848

We conducted a regional assessment of four ecological attributes (size, rockfish habitat, depth, and connectivity) in 164 Rockfish Conservation Areas (RCAs) in British Columbia. The purpose of this research was to evaluate how effective RCAs are at achieving their conservation objective, which is to protect portions of inshore rockfish populations and their habitat from fishing pressure. Analyses were conducted using GIS information and existing habitat models. Attribute thresholds were derived from the literature. We took three approaches to our analyses. RCAs were scored based on: 1. individual attributes, 2. attributes summed together to form a single index of overall status, and 3. ideal attribute criteria to assess how the current network compares to a best case scenario. Generally RCAs were ranked by lowest score/poorest performer to help prioritize RCAs for further evaluation to determine whether a strategic change (boundary adjustment, relocation) might improve their conservation value to rockfish. Although inshore rockfish have small home ranges, some RCAs might be too small resulting in excessive spillover of mature fish. Available model-based data indicate some RCAs contain very little rockfish habitat and, therefore, may not support high abundances of fish which would limit population rebuilding efforts.