Canadian Conference For
Conférence Canadienne de la
Recherche sur les Pêches
Hôtel Delta Centre-ville,
Montréal, 4-6 January 2007
President/Président
Jeff
Hutchings, Dalhousie University, Department of Biology,
Dalhousie NS B3H 4R2 (Jeff.Hutchings@dal.ca)
Programme
chair/Responsable du programne
Nick
Mandrak, Great Lakes
Laboratory for Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans Canada,
Burlington, ON L7R 4A6 (mandrakn@dfo-mpo.gc.ca)
Local arrangements chair/Responsable de l’organisation
locale
Secretary-treasurer/Secrétaire-trésorier
Andrew
Cooper, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Halifax, NS
B3H 4R2 (CooperA@mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca)
Nomination
chair/Resposable des nominations
Lynda
Corkum, University of Windsor, Department
of biological sciences, Windsor ON N9B 3P4 (corkum@uwindsor.ca)
Themes/Thèmes:
1. Aquatic
conservation/Conservation aquatique
Session Chair: Rick Taylor, Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 (etaylor@zoology.ubc.ca)
This session will include studies relating to the conservation of fish and fishery resources that involve taxonomic/systematic, genetic, ecological, physiological, biogeographic, or demographic questions. The focus of the research should be on how the work makes substantial or consequential contributions to the conservation of populations, species, or ecosystems.
2. Aquatic Ecosystem Science
Session Chair: Marten Koops (koopsm@dfo-mpo.gc.ca)
It is often proposed that the conservation and sustainable use of aquatic ecosystems should be managed within an ecosystem approach, and most government and resource management agencies now have mandates that include commitments to 'ecosystem-based management' or an 'ecosystem approach to management'. Implementing these approaches requires supporting research on the structure and dynamics of aquatic ecosystems. The purpose of this session is to overview the current state of ecosystem research in Canada, looking at the current and emerging issues that demand ecosystem level research attention and how these issues are currently being addressed. Participants are asked to place their research in the context of future directions for ecosystem research in Canada by contributing to one or more of the following objectives:
· overview of aquatic ecosystem research in Canada,
· identify the research needed to actualize an ecosystem approach,
· identify who should be doing this research (e.g., roles for government versus academic science), and
· identify the issues facing ecosystem research.
Papers are not expected to address all these objectives, but will be organized with the intention of forming a coherent picture over the course of the session.
3. Aquatic
invasive species/Les espèces invasives
aquatiques
Session Chair: Tony Ricciardi,
Redpath Museum, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec,
Canada H3A 2K6 (tony.ricciardi@mcgill.ca)
Biological invasions are altering food webs in lakes, rivers and coastal marine systems worldwide. This session will examine patterns and processes of establishment, spread and impact of nonindigenous species. Presentations will highlight new research on invasions in freshwater and marine environments.
4. Climate
change/Les changements climatiques
Session Chair: Kim Hyatt, Pacific Biological Station, Fisheries and Oceans
Canada, Nanaimo, BC V9T 6N7 (hyattk@dfo-mpo.gc.ca)
5. Cyanobacteria: Causes, Consequences
and Toxicity/ Les cyanobactéries; causes,
conséquences et toxicité
Session Chairs: David Bird (bird.david@uqam.ca); Antonia Cattaneo
(antonia.cattaneo@umontreal.ca)
6. Environmental
Physiology and Genomics//Physiologie environnementale et génomique
Session Chair: Dan Heath, Great
Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON
N9B 3P4 (dheath@uwindsor.ca)
Applications of genomic techniques, approaches and analysis of physiological response to environmental change of relevance to Fisheries and Aquaculture.
7. Habitat-Fish Mortality Linkages/
Les relations habitat-mortalité des poissons
Session Chair: Robert Randall, Great Lakes Laboratory for Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences,
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Burlington, ON L7R 4A6 (randallr@dfo-mpo.gc.ca)
Presentations are to address the quantitative linkages between habitat loss (decreases in area) or habitat alteration (decreases in habitat quality) and fish mortality (figure). Fish habitat is broadly defined as the living space of fishes characterized by physical, chemical and biological attributes that both support and limit fish production (reproduction, growth and survival). Studies based on field data, experimentation or models from both freshwater and marine regions are of interest. Qualitative rather than quantitative linkages are also of interest, if the results help identify the nature of the response function between habitat alteration and fish mortality Papers on habitat-mortality links are of applied use to fisheries and habitat managers who are responsible for assessing the impacts of land-based or in-water activities on fish habitat and fish populations.
8. Hydroelectric Power and Aquatic Ecosystems/
La production hydroélectrique et les écosystèmes aquatiques
Session Chairs: Yves Prairie (prairie.yves@uqam.ca); Dave Scruton, Science Branch, Fisheries
and Oceans Canada, St. John's, NL A1C 5X1 (scrutond@dfo-mpo.gc.ca)
Canada is one of the world leaders in the generation of electricity from hydroelectric sources and hydroelectricity will, for the foreseeable future, be an important renewable source of energy. Hydroelectric developments can have a profound affect on aquatic ecosystems and the utilities and regulatory agencies are continually challenged to manage and mitigate potential effects from developments. Additionally there are many gaps in our knowledge on the potential effects of hydro developments and operations at all levels of the ecosystem. This theme session will invite oral and poster presentations related to hydropower and aquatic ecosystems including: (i) effects downstream of facilities (e.g. flow alteration and flow management, potential effects at estuaries, etc.); (ii) effects at the facility (e.g. entrainment and turbine passage, upstream and downstream fish passage, etc.); and (iii) changes related to reservoir creation (e.g. habitat alteration, changes in water residency and nutrient dynamics, mercury mobilization and bioaccumulation, etc.). Presentations are also encouraged on approaches to assess, mitigate, and manage potential effects. Presentations that provide on integrated (ecosystem) or cumulative perspective on hydropower development will also be welcomed.
9.
Land-Water Interactions: Water Quality Issues and
Food Web Dynamics/ Les interactions eau-terre : la
qualité de l’eau et la dynamique trophique
Session Chairs: Jerome
Marty (jmarty@scimail.uwaterloo.ca); Anurani
Persaud (anuranipersaud@trentu.ca)
Freshwater ecosystems are closely linked to their surrounding catchments which can contribute carbon, nutrients and contaminants, thereby influencing ecosystem structure and function. We invite you to contribute to this special session which will focus on the effects of terrestrial inputs on water quality and food webs in rivers, lakes and reservoirs. Also of interest for this session is the influence of terrestrial inputs on physical and chemical properties of aquatic ecosystems which can ultimately affect biota.
10.
The St. Lawrence Ecosystem/ L’écosystème du Saint-Laurent
Session Chairs: Pierre Magnan (Pierre.Magnan@uqtr.ca); Jeff Ridal, St.
Lawrence River Institute of Environnemental Sciences, Cornwall, ON K6H 4Z1
(jridal@riverinstitute.com)
We solicit papers pertaining to the biogeochemistry and ecology of the St. Lawrence River with a view to characterizing similarities and differences between different sectors of the river. Relevant topics include research on impacts of water-level fluctuations on habitats, productivity, food-web structure, contaminant dynamics and biodiversity of the SLR.
11. Wetlands/ Les marais
Session Chair: Francis Pick, Biology Department, University of Ottawa,
Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5 (frpick@science.uottawa.ca)
Wetlands can have strong influences on the biogeochemistry of lakes yet limnologists rarely get to know these productive and high-diversity ecosystems. In this session we encourage presentations dealing with both wetland structure and function and how wetlands are interconnected with lakes, rivers and oceans.
There is also the invited Annual CCFFR Stevenson Lecture and SCL Frank Rigler Memorial Award Lecture