Southern Ontario Stream Monitoring and Research Team (SOSMART) Autumn Meeting

Transcription

1 Southern Ontario Stream Monitoring and Research Team (SOSMART) Autumn Meeting Participants October 23, 2015 Conservation Halton, Glen Eden Ski Chalet Jason Barnucz Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Science Sarah MacKay Phil Bird Credit Valley Conservation Fred McGarry Centre for Community Mapping Rowshyra Castaneda University of Toronto Scarborough Dan Moore Central Lake Ontario Conservation Loveleen Clayton Credit Valley Conservation Brian Morrison Ganaraska Region Conservation Joshua Diamond Niagara Peninsula Conservation Andrea Dunn Conservation Halton Massimo Narini Doug Mulholland Centre for Community Mapping Larry Halyk Conservation Halton Ian Ockenden Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Sarah Scott Hogg Jarvie Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry Toronto & Region Conservation Kim Ootjers Conservation Halton Les Stanfield Ecohealth Solutions Lisa Jennings Hamilton Conservation Angela Wallace Toronto & Region Conservation Chris Chris Andrea Jones Jones Kirkwood Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Rob Wilson Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Amanda Wong Region of Halton Administration Minutes from spring meeting : o Angela to post SOSMART Terms of Reference on webpage complete o Angela to post presentations to the SOSMART website complete o Les checked with Antoine Morin about a presentation not ready yet, hopefully he will present at a future meeting Leadership Committee Les, Angela and Dan expressed interest for staying in their current positions for another year; a formal vote is required at the spring meeting to confirm. Current Projects Please see attached Appendix Page 1 of 5

2 Presentations ACTION: Speakers who would like their presentations posted on the SOSMART website to send them to Angela Wallace by January 15, 2016 ACTION: Angela to post presentations to the SOSMART website Chris Jones (OMOECC) - Key findings from Canadian Water Network project in Muskoka/Ontario Biodiversity Report (proposed benthic contribution for southern Ontario streams) o State of Ontario s Biodiversity report, every 5 years, would like to include BMI for 1 reference and 1 impacted sites for at least 10 physiographic regions. Family level id. OBBN quick and sweep. Need to coordinate seasonally. Massimo Narini (UOIT) Phytoplankton community structure and distribution in the Nottawasaga River in relation to water quality and land use Chris Edge (UofT) - Planning aquatic and terrestrial habitat networks for the future Brian Morison (GRCA) Brook Trout life history Jason Barncuz (DFO) Fish removal experiment/trawling methods development Doug Mullholland (COMAP - Update on FWIS: Moving towards the eas ier button Group Discussion Discussed fish sub-group meeting which occurred on April 15, 2015 o ACTION: Angela to send minutes from fish sub-group meeting with minutes from this meeting o Fish sub group to re-meet in December o ACTION: Dan Moore to set up fish sub-group meeting Additional fish discussions o OMNRF Zone 16 Kawartha fisheries council o OMNR Monitoring framework for streams o Spawning surveys TRCA, HRCA, GRCA, & CVC all complete some spawning surveys CVC has a simple protocol, contact Phil Bird if you are interested Make sure to record negative data if you go through a reach of stream and find nothing, it should be recorded. GTA CAs are trying to find critical Brook Trout habitat Some chapters of Trout Unlimited do spawning surveys; CAs should try to include this data as well Scott Gibson (OMNRF) did a report on spawning surverys several years ago, Brian Morrison may have it, please contact Brian if you are interested in a copy Discussed the use of underwater cameras (e.g. GoPro) as part of spawning surveys Training opportunities o Job shadow at other CAs? Page 2 of 5

3 Communications o SOSMART facebook group would allow people to communicate between meetings o ACTION: Angela to create a facebook group Chloride o Hot issue o Is low impact development making the issue worse? Dave Lembke from LSCRCA is looking at this issue; perhaps a future guest speaker? o Group interested in what the chloride toxicity levels are for Redside Dace OMNRF - Stream Classification System o Nick Jones has created a provincial classification based on the stream segment approach o Can CAs help with validation? New Business/ Next Steps/Other Small group discussion Theme ideas: no suggestions at meeting, members can ideas to Les/Angela Next meeting March 31, 2016 at Credit Valley Conservation Page 3 of 5

4 APPENDIX - Attendees Current Projects Les Stanfield Cumulative Effects project 6 academic research groups (UofT, UBC, Trent, Ottawa, Waterloo, Ryerson) in southern Ontario looking at cumulative effects including hydrology and biological aspects Rob Wilson fish sampling in the summer, starting bug monitoring now, upcoming Latornell session on Brook Trout and climate change Loveleen second year of new monitoring program, starting a new communication plan Phil Brook Trout spawning surveys, stream classification Amanda started some water quality sampling this year, water level monitoring on vernal pools Josh Diamond routine WQ monitoring Andrea th year of aquatic monitoring Jason Redside Dace listing has been delayed Ian submitted a proposal for federal funding for research specific to road salt, phosphorus, turbidity Conservation Ontario (via Ian) near shore monitoring protocol; review of protocols in N. America, being completed by Neil Hutchinson/Hutchinson Environmental; protocol to be developed before April and tested this summer by NVCA o CJ asked if CA are responsible or starting to work on near shore/lakes; Ian explained that CA authority does extend into the Great Lakes(how much?) and most provincial/federal work is out in the main lake (not nearshore) UTSC Yimi Zheng (MSc student) is examining the effects of multiple stressors on GTA Brook Trout populations using physiological and distributional indicators; Brett Allen (MSc student) is examining fish community changes over time in the Credit River watershed; Meagan Kindree (PhD student) will be developing stream species distribution models for the Canadian Great Lakes basin new the new OMNRF stream segmentation data; Rowshyra Castaneda (UTSC PhD student) is examining the use of GoPros to detect rare fishes such as SAR and early invaders, she is also comparing to edna where available. Rowshyra will be targeting Redside Dace sites, particular those not recently sampled. ACTION: Please send any candidate Redside Dace sites to rowshyra.castaneda@mail.utoronto.ca Tej Heer (UTSC PhD student) is working on improving Asian Carp spawning models for Canadian Great Lakes tributaries. He s looking for daily water temperature and flow data (velocity, not discharge unless rating curves are available) for southern Great Lake tributaries ACTION: Please send Tej an if you have data you want to share with him tej.heer@mail.utoronto.ca; ACTION: Angela to tell Tej to contact Les Stanfield about access to FWIS Dan Moore looking to revise monitoring program, going to outline questions/priorities before monitoring program is revised GRCA entered a partnership with Mike Fox (Trent) for Round Goby research CoMap working on FWIS; discussion about possibly bringing OBBN into FWIS? UOIT Aquatic ecology lab, focus on bottom of food chain algae, plants, inverts, collaborate with CAs; global projects with 50 countries representing various biomes CellDx mimicking leaf decomposition; Page 4 of 5

5 Sarah MacKay (UOIT PhD student) cosmetic fertilizer input to L. Simcoe tributaries and effects on phytoplankton Lisa Jennings Brook Trout thresholds, habitat enhancements; partnered with Matrix Solutions; walleye feasibility Chris Jones o 27-group level identification vs family project with Kawartha/Otonobee - order not equivalent; need to push to family level identification o Biocriteria Project stared sampling in 2009, nearing completion for most physiographic regions in the east and south-central, about to start analysis. Analysis could take several forms e.g. Chris does everything (will take too long!), supply data to others for co-authorship, fund MSc/PhD/post-doc o OBBN Biomonitoring meeting January in Toronto region o OBBN vs CABIN comparison o Site vs lake scale variability o Considering a video based family ID course o Neonics Study - 22 sites in Southern Ontario Brian Morisson portfolio effects, coasters, trying to determine which streams still have BT, use sea lamprey barrier data Jason Barnucz - backwater effects on streams; measure nearshore fish/habitat R script fish export contact Jeremy Holden, OMNRF, Lake Ontario Unit Page 5 of 5