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The Conservation and Management of Brook Trout in Ontario: Past, Present,
and Future
Jacquelyn Wood, Ph.D. Latornell Conservation Symposium Nottawasaga Inn, Alliston ON November 21st-23rd, 2017
and Forestry
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Wild Brook Trout are:
Brook Trout thrive in only the coldest (<20oC) and cleanest water, typically in forested environments, and are dependent on groundwater discharge for spawning.
• An important component of Ontario’s aquatic biodiversity
• A valued recreational fishery
• Primary indicator of healthy aquatic ecosystems
Atlas + FSIS = > 4300 BT waterbodies; 70% native or naturalized and 30% PGT.
No native populations in FMZ 4 and 5, or outside the Lake Superior
watershed in FMZ 6 (stocked)
©ROM
Ontario distribution
Populations are primarily found in FMZ 10 (28%) and 15 (24%) with smaller proportions in FMZ’s 6, 7, 8, 16 and Algonquin Park (9-11% in each).
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HOWEVER, many Atlas records are unconfirmed or anecdotal
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Current distribution Brook Trout status: eastern US
US assessment found that native Brook Trout are:
Hudy et al. 2008
• Extirpated from 28% of sub-watersheds
• Greatly reduced (i.e. >50% of pops lost) in 35% of sub-watersheds
• Undisturbed in less than 5% of their historic range
Primary stresses:
• Increasing water temperatures and sedimentation from land clearing and poor land management
• Invasive fish species • Acid deposition • Habitat degradation and fragmentation
Current distribution Brook Trout in Ontario: historical context
Ganaraska watershed early 1900’s - desert-like sand dunes and washed-out gullies.
Current belief is that Brook Trout are headwater specialists in southern Ontario, but historical evidence shows that they inhabited many streams from headwaters to lower reaches
1832 - Brook Trout were so plentiful, they could be caught with a bucket in Orono Creek (tributary of Wilmot Creek).
1796 - Brook Trout were found in the lower Don River in Toronto as far south as Castle Frank.
1870’s - Wilmot describes Brook Trout as “exceedingly scarce” in southern Ontario and “in the older settled sections quite extinct”.
‘Shifting baseline syndrome’ Involves a continuous lowering of standards of nature and the acceptance of degraded natural ecosystems to be the normal state of nature.
1980’s - an informal MNR assessment estimated 80% of historical populations in southern Ontario and 10 – 15% in northern Ontario had been lost.
1900 - Original cold water fish communities in most streams in southern Ontario eliminated or severely reduced in abundance.
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Timeline:
Brook Trout status: southern Ontario
Lake Simcoe watershed: Largely restricted to Oak Ridges and Oro Moraines; historical distribution estimated to be 47% larger than current based on hindcast modelling (Thorn et al. 2016).
Lake Ontario basin: Brook Trout are confined to mostly headwater areas, estimated to occupy only 21% of historic range (Stanfield et al. 2006).
BT
Present • Absent •
Brook Trout status: southern Ontario
BT expected and present BT expected but no catch
Algonquin Park: Brook Trout stronghold; BT occupy all fourth order watersheds in Algonquin Park and occur naturally in 444 lakes as well as numerous streams and rivers (Ridgway et al. 2017).
FMZ 15: Broad Scale Monitoring: 54% of identified Brook Trout trend lakes did not produce catches
Bracebridge area: 44% of native BT populations thought to be extirpated since 1960s.
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Brook Trout status: northern Ontario
FMZ 6: Analysis indicated there were 35-37 Brook Trout lakes (substantially less than the 105 reported in 1980).
FMZ 6
Broad Scale Monitoring: One of the 10 BT trend lakes became extirpated between the first and second cycle of BsM coinciding with the appearance of Northern Pike and Yellow Perch.
Of 55 native BT lakes that currently contain BT, 38% in LESPP. Outside LESPP, ≥ 26 BT lakes were lost in the Temagami area from 1960 to 2010. In the south, 90% of historical native BT lakes have been extirpated. Across FMZ 11, approximately 72% of 57 stocked BT lakes have varying levels of impairment.
FMZ 11:
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Brook Trout status: northern Ontario
Coasters originally present in ≥ 118 tributaries of Lake Superior in addition to Lakes Ontario, Erie, and Huron. Overexploitation = dramatic reductions in Lakes Ontario, Erie, and Huron; in Lake Superior remnant pops only at Isle Royale, Salmon Trout River and Nipigon River region.
Lake Superior (Coaster BT): Historic populations Current populations
FMZ 10:
Broad Scale Monitoring: 14% of Brook Trout trend lakes no longer contained BT, 33% had poor catches (< 10 fish/survey) and on average, each BT lake has 2.8 more species compared to the 1970s (Vascotto and Houle 2012).
BT absent
Possible stronghold: OMNR compiled data suggests 1250 waterbodies with naturally reproducing BT pops including 189 streams and rivers.
FMZ 10
Strong thermal stratification
Hawley Lake
Largely unknown due to lack of formal assessment. Abnormally high temperatures (>30oC), strong thermal stratification in headwater lake and surface water temps >20oC caused a major BT die-off in Sutton River in 2001. Likely cause is decline in extent and duration of sea ice (Gunn and Snucins 2010)
Far North:
Brook Trout status: northern Ontario
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Brook Trout status: forecasting
2020s
2050s
Current Probability of occurrence
0 low high 1
Chu et al. 2005
Climate change models have predicted that the number of watersheds in Ontario with Brook Trout in 2005 will be reduced by 50% in 2050.
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Under a modest climate change scenario (B1) 12% (Superior and Huron), 23% (Erie), 14% (Ontario), and 21% (Upper St. Lawrence) of tributaries predicted to warm from cold to cool water by 2080 (Chu et al. 2015)
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Distribution of cold water fish assemblages reduced to ≥ 67% of 43 southern Ontario watersheds studied by 2025 (Chu et al. 2008).
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Horizons 2020
Provincial Fish Strategy
Goal 1: Healthy ecosystems + fish communities 1.1 Protect and maintain aquatic ecosystem diversity, connectivity, structure and function 1.2 Protect composition of native fish communities
1.3 Restore/recover/rehab degraded pops and fish habitat
Goal 2: Sustainable fisheries 2.1 Harvest fish within safe biological limits 2.3 Increase economic, social, and cultural benefits derived from fish
Non-MNRF Policies
Inter-Agency Policies
Other MNRF Policies/ Decisions
Stewardship/ Rehabilitation Projects
MNRF Specific Fisheries Policy
Relevant to or specific to Brook Trout
1. Fish Habitat
• Fish Habitat Referral Protocol for Ontario
2. Municipal Land Use Planning (Planning Act - MMA)
• Project Reviews - HADD
1. Fish Habitat Management (Fisheries Act Section 35, 36 - DFO)
• MTO/DFO/MNRF Fisheries Protocol For Protecting Fish and Fish Habitat on Provincial Transportation Undertakings
• Fisheries Protection Policy Statement
• MNRF/DFO Protocol for the Review and Approval of Forestry Water Crossings
• An Interjurisdictional Compliance Protocol for Fish Habitat and Associated Water Quality
• Forest Management Guide for Conserving Biodiversity at the Stand and Site Scale
• Lake Superior Brook Trout Rehabilitation Plan
• Fisheries Management Zone Plans
• Forest Access Road placement construction, use, and decommissioning around LT lakes, BT lakes and sensitive features
1. Fisheries Management and Restoration plans
1. Forestry Management (CFSA)
• Four Plans – Natural Heritage System
• Crownland Land Use Policy Atlas
• Protocol for the Review and Approval of Forestry Water Crossings
• Provincial Policy Statement
• Locally generated Natural Heritage System plans and policies
Specifies roles, responsibilities and processes for review of site specific projects under the Fisheries Act
3. Conservation Authorities Mandate (Conservation Authorities Act) • Municipal land use planning advice
2. Crownland Management (PLA)
• Disposition of Crownland
3. Municipal Land Use Planning (PA) • Natural Heritage Reference Manual
4. Dam Management (LRIA; Administrative Guide, Technical Bulletins and BMPs)
5. MNRF Class EA for Resource Stewardship and Facility Development Projects (EAA)
• Great Lake Fish Community Objectives
• Provincially Significant Inland Fisheries and Lake Simcoe Fish Community Objectives
• Watershed Based Fisheries Management Plans (WBFiMPs) • Parks - Algonquin
• Fishing Regs (catch, harvest, size limits, seasons, etc.)
• Commercial/angler licensing
• Stocking and Transfers
• Fishway construction and mgmt
• Population and habitat rehabilitation activities • Monitoring and TEK
• In-Water Work Timing Window Guidelines
1. Habitat/Population Rehabilitation Funding and Programs
Legislation (FA, OFR, FWCA, etc.)
• Ontario Community Environment Fund - MOECC
• Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund
• Great Lakes Protection Funding: Implementing Canada-Ontario Agreement (MNRF + MOECC)
• Great Lakes Sustainability Fund (Environment and Climate Change Canada)
• Recreational Fisheries Conservation Partnerships Program Funding (DFO)
• Land Stewardship and Habitat Restoration Program (MNRF)
FA = Fisheries Act OFR = Ontario Fishery Regulations FWCA = Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act CAA = Conservation Authorities Act CFSA = Crown Forest Sustainability Act PLA = Public Land Act PA = Planning Act LRIA = Lakes and Rivers Improvement Act EAA = Environmental Assessment Act
2. Fisheries Management Tools/ Activities
• Strategic Bait Policy (DRAFT, TBD)
Some Relevant Legislation:
• Watershed management plans • Water management – flood, drought low water, erosion • Stewardship and Conservation
4. Water Quality & Quantity (CWA, OWRA & NMA - MOECC) • Source water protection • Water allocation - water taking permits
• Regulating development and activities through permitting - interference with watercourse or wetland
5. Environmental Assessments (EAA – MOECC, CEAA - EC )
• Community Hatchery Program
• PWQO and Stormwater Guidelines
• Conservation Land Tax Incentive Program
2. Great Lakes (GLWQA, COA)
• Federal and provincial class EA’s and individual EA’s
Brook Trout Management in Ontario
• Significant losses of Brook Trout populations province wide both in lakes and streams/rivers – historic, current and anticipated in the future.
• Stressors are acting at large landscape scales and losses will be exacerbated by climate change.
• Data and information to inform distribution and status of Brook Trout is not available for most of the Area of the Undertaking; what exists is not consolidated and often out of date in the remainder of Ontario.
• Very few policies and tools specific to protecting Brook Trout. Management approaches are complex, piecemeal and often applied at a local scale.
• No coordinated science or monitoring plan for Brook Trout, and BsM is struggling to monitor Brook Trout populations in lakes as planned. No monitoring program for Brook Trout in rivers and streams.
• No synthesis of information on Brook Trout in Ontario.
Problem definition: summary
The Brook Trout in Ontario
DRAFT REPORT
Recent MNRF work on Brook Trout
Brook Trout in Ontario Report:
History, status, biology (life history, genetics, habitat prefs), stressors, and management of Ontario’s BT.
Status: Reviewer comments received; in revision
Objective: One stop shop for BT information; background document to be consulted to support the development of management plans for BT in Ontario.
Brook Trout Conservation Buffers Review:
Objective: Literature review to support the use of prescriptive conservation buffers for BT.
Status: In review
Jurisdictional scan: Credit Valley Conservation, OMNRF, USDA, Environment Canada
Workshop Proceedings January 24th – 26th, 2017 Kempenfelt Conference Centre Innisfil, Ontario
The Brook Trout in Ontario
Recent MNRF work on Brook Trout
Brook Trout Workshop:
Shared state of knowledge and information on trends, pressures, and responses, and identified science and policy gaps and best-bet management approaches.
MNRF-hosted province-wide multi-partner workshop bringing together 80 Brook Trout science, policy and management experts.
Objective: Provide impetus for development of a more focused, integrated and coordinated approach BT management and conservation.
Workshop Proceedings: Summary of presentations, panel discussion and break out sessions; also appendices with detailed expert opinion on status of BT and management and monitoring priorities
% Intact
% Degraded
% Extirpated
% Intact
% Degraded
% Extirpated
Brook Trout Vulnerability Assessment
Results: Lakes/Ponds
Results: Rivers/Streams
1. Introduced Species (70%*) 2. Climate Change (11%) 3. Agriculture (7%) 4. Cottaging, exploitation, mining
and aggregates (4%)
Greatest Threats
1. Urbanization (36%) 2. Agriculture (30%) 3. Climate Change (14%) 4. Introduced Species (11%) 5. Forestry (9%)
Greatest Threats
*percentage of respondents
% Intact % Degraded % Extirpated
32.4 38.7 36.3 Waterbody types combined
Sought expert opinion on level of risk to Brook Trout in Ontario through a pre-workshop survey.
Analyzed response data using a Bayesian network model that encodes probabilistic relationships among variables – formalizes expert knowledge.
Vulnerability Assessment (Tim Haxton, MNRF)
FMZ % Intact % Degraded % Extirpated
1 95 5 0
3 82.5 15 5
6 48.3 46 21
7 45.7 48.3 19
8 65 26.3 11.7
10 45.8 33.3 25
11 35 40 25
15 36.3 41.8 25.1
16 16.1 41.6 44.1
17 8 47.5 49.4
18 11.8 63.3 33.3
Brook Trout Vulnerability Assessment
Vulnerability Assessment: Ecozone/FMZ – Population Status
Far North
Boreal Shield
Mixedwood Plains
Status of Vulnerability Assessment: Manuscript in preparation
CSI Ontario: COA Project 2016-2019
The goal of the COA project is to refine and apply the US CSI model to map the conservation status and inform management strategies for Brook Trout populations in Ontario’s Great Lake’s watersheds.
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Funding: Collaborators:
A strategic landscape tool to map and quantify population and habitat status in watersheds and subwatersheds; a practical tool to identify best bets for protection, conservation and restoration of Brook Trout
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CSI Refined BKT Model Conservation Success Index (CSI): Scoring
Aggregation of four categories; 5 indicators per category
For each sub-watershed, available data is used to assign a score of 1-5 to each indicator = max score of 25 per category = max cumulative score of 100 across categories.
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Field data GIS-based data
Conservation Success Index (CSI): Analysis Spatially-explicit conditions CSI data
Carl Haensel, Minnesota TU
Conservation Success Index (CSI): Analysis Spatially-explicit conditions Spatially-explicit strategies
Carl Haensel, Minnesota TU
Outside historic range
Conservation Success Index: Ontario
Credit River Watershed
The initial study area = Credit River Watershed because of the availability and diversity of spatial and non-spatial datasets that could be utilized (27 datasets).
Assumptions, constraints, scoring, and data modeling very similar to original US version
Model modified to suit Ontario geospatial data availability and structure, and biophysical relationships
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Wallace La and Jack Imhof, Trout Unlimited Canada
Conservation Success Index: Ontario
Wallace La and Jack Imhof, Trout Unlimited Canada
Overall Condition
1
3 2
4 5
6 7 1. Black Creek 2. Silver Creek 3. Cheltenham to Glen Williams 4. East Credit 5. West Credit 6. Shaw’s Creek 7. Melville to Forks of the Credit
• Complete CSI model and final reporting for Bronte and Sixteen Mile Creeks (small, data rich watersheds).
• Start to populate and test model on other watersheds with different conditions and data available to ensure it can adapt to vary availability and quality of data; Saugeen River (large, data poor) has been selected and work will begin in January.
• Catalogue data holdings from sources needed to support models; will inform data collection priorities.
• Data sharing agreements with CAs; compile layers and provincial datasets for all
watersheds.
• Static maps and reports for pilot watersheds (Credit, Bronte and Sixteen Mile) will launch in the spring 2018.
• 2018-19 target - CSI scores, mapping and reports will be completed for all Brook Trout watershed in the Great Lakes Basin. Further refinement where better quality data is available in specific watersheds will occur in 2019.
CSI Ontario: Next Steps
Brook Trout Inventory/Classification/IM
Brook Trout status and distribution data compilation:
Status of CA data compilation in southern Ontario
Existing Brook Trout data not consolidated; distributed in various agencies and organizations (i.e. CAs, DFO, MNRF, ROM)
Initiative to seek out and compile existing data in Southern and Northern Ontario in a standard database format in one place
Cindy Chu, Rob Mackereth, Darren Smith, Adrienne Smith (MNRF)
Bracebridge Pilot Project (2013-2014)
Impetus: No consistent and repeatable approach to classifying natural BT populations in Ontario lakes; existing lists have been inconsistent with one another.
Objective: Determine past and present distribution of natural BT pops in Bracebridge Area, Parry Sound District
Brook Trout Inventory/Classification/IM
Distribution of Ontario’s naturally reproducing, lake-dwelling Brook Trout:
Glen Forward et al. (MNRF)
Uses historical BT records and two classification keys: Key 1: Uses historical records to identify BT origin (records = verbal or observed) and recorded attributes (fin clips, age, size, etc.) and stocking history to further classify BT as natural, stocked, or source undetermined Key 2: Classifies lake based on suite of classified BT records (e.g. if there is a single record of an observed, natural BT, then lake is classified as an observed natural BT lake.
44% of Observed Natural BT lakes that were sampled more than once (11 of 25) had no BT in most recent sample and 82% of those had non-natives (yellow perch, bass, pike)
Status: Method has been applied to Bancroft District lakes; three BAMS biologists are now applying this method to the entire range of lake-dwelling brook trout in Ontario.
42 of 68 lakes = Observed natural BT lakes Remaining 26 lakes: 12 = Verbal report of Natural BT Lake 12 = Observed BT – source undetermined 2 = Verbal BT – source undetermined
Results across 68 lakes:
= Other species found
= Nat BT captured during most recent sampling
= Nat BT NOT captured during most recent sampling
Brook Trout Inventory/Classification/IM
Brook Trout Inventory/Classification/IM
Historical Brook Trout Stocking Mapping application:
Changhai Zhu (MNRF)
• Objective: Aid in consolidating existing information to better understand the status of Brook Trout in Ontario.
Includes: Consolidated dataset of OMNRF Brook Trout stocking records from 1905-2016 (Historical BT Stocking Databases 1900-1973, 1974-1991, 1992-1996, 1997-2000 and records from Fish Stocking Information System (FSIS).
Mapping application to querying the database for various parameters, allows user to map and output a subset of the whole dataset based on parameters that most interests them.
Status: Available at Land Information Ontario (LIO)
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• Continue to compile and consolidate Ontario BT occurrence records and load them into the ARA survey point layer.
• Move forward with province wide application of the Natural BT classification tool developed in the Bracebridge pilot project.
• Continue CSI project with Trout Unlimited Canada.
• Complete Brook Trout Synthesis.
• Complete review of conservation buffers.
• Finalize Vulnerability Assessment.
• Explore potential policy development options.
Recommendations/ Next Steps
