Developing Triggers for Environmental Effects Monitoring Programs for Trout‐Perch in the Lower Athabasca River (Canada)

In Canada, there is almost 30 years of experience in developing tiered and triggered adaptive monitoring programs focused on looking at whether environmental concerns remain when pulp and paper mills, or metal mines, are in compliance with their discharge limits. These environmental effects monitoring programs were based on nationally standardized designs. Many of the programs have been developed through multi-stakeholder working groups, and the evolution of the program faced repeated frictions and differing opinions on how to design environmental monitoring programs. This paper describes key guidance to work through the initial steps in program design, and includes scientific advice based on lessons learned from the development of the Canadian aquatic environmental effects monitoring program.

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Repeated-measures regression designs and analysis for environmental effects monitoring programs

Deep Sea Research Part II Topical Studies in Oceanography ◽

10.1016/j.dsr2.2014.10.017 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 110 ◽

pp. 84-91 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Michael D. Paine ◽

Marc A. Skinner ◽

Bruce W. Kilgour ◽

Elisabeth M. DeBlois ◽

Ellen Tracy

Keyword(s):

Environmental Effects ◽

Repeated Measures ◽

Monitoring Programs ◽

Environmental Effects Monitoring

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Cautions on using the Before-After-Control-Impact design in environmental effects monitoring programs

FACETS ◽

10.1139/facets-2016-0058 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 212-232 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

K.E. Smokorowski ◽

R.G. Randall

Keyword(s):

Environmental Impact ◽

Environmental Effects ◽

Baci Design ◽

Impact Monitoring ◽

Monitoring Programs ◽

Post Impact ◽

Impact Data ◽

The Impact ◽

Environmental Effects Monitoring

Often the Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) design is suggested as being a statistically powerful experimental design in environmental impact studies. If the timing and location of the impact are known and adequate pre-data are collected, the BACI design is considered optimal to help isolate the effect of the development from natural variability. This paper presents 9 years of results from a long-term BACI experiment tested using a range of statistical models and post-impact monitoring designs. To explore suboptimal designs that are often utilized in environmental effects monitoring, the same data were also explored assuming either no control system was available (Before-After only), or that no pre-impact data were available (Control-Impact only). The results of the BACI design were robust to the statistical model used, and the BACI design was able to detect effects from the impact that the two suboptimal designs failed to detect. However, the BACI design demonstrated different conclusions depending on the number and configuration of post-impact years included in the analysis. Our results reinforce the idea that caution should be employed when using, or interpreting results from, a BACI design in an environmental impact study, but demonstrate that a well-designed BACI remains one of the best models for environmental effects monitoring programs.

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Investigation of Cause in Pulp and Paper Environmental Effects Monitoring

Water Quality Research Journal ◽

10.2166/wqrj.2005.032 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 40 (3) ◽

pp. 261-274 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

L. Mark Hewitt ◽

Monique G. Dubé ◽

Sandra C. Ribey ◽

Joseph M. Culp ◽

Richard Lowell ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Environmental Effects ◽

Pulp And Paper ◽

Sufficient Information ◽

Response Patterns ◽

Pulp Mills ◽

Metal Mining ◽

Scientific Disciplines ◽

Specific Stage ◽

Metabolic Disruption ◽

Environmental Effects Monitoring

Abstract Environmental Effects Monitoring (EEM) Programs in Canada have been developed for the pulp and paper and metal mining industries. The EEM Program conducts cyclical evaluations of receiving environments to determine whether effects exist when facilities comply with existing regulations. Investigation of cause (IOC) is a specific stage in the EEM Program that is used after environmental effects in fish and/or benthos have been detected, confirmed and their extent and magnitude have been documented. This paper presents an overview of the processes associated with this phase of monitoring. The objective of an IOC is to obtain sufficient information so that the source of the effect can be identified and removed, or its effects reduced to an acceptable level. The initial direction of an IOC is dependent upon the type of response patterns observed for fish and/or benthos during EEM cycles and extent/magnitude studies. The framework presented in this paper is based on an amalgamation of research projects conducted at Canadian pulp mills over the last decade and selected studies are summarized as examples. It also represents an integration of several research philosophies and scientific disciplines. The framework is based on national response patterns from the second cycle of pulp and paper EEM studies. IOCs are directed into either an eutrophication-based investigation or a contaminant-based investigation (including metabolic disruption in fish). The framework is constructed with a progression of investigative levels designed to provide more information on the causative factors. Each of these phases also represents a decision point for stakeholders to determine if sufficient information has been attained about the causal factor(s) and whether the IOC should be concluded. It is expected that the framework will evolve with a growing knowledge base of causal factors, as facilities enter into this phase of the EEM Program.

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Introductory Remarks: Scientific Concepts associated with the Development of the Canadian Environmental Effects Monitoring Program

Water Quality Research Journal ◽

10.2166/wqrj.2002.002 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 37 (1) ◽

pp. 3-6

Keyword(s):

Environmental Effects ◽

Monitoring Program ◽

Scientific Concepts ◽

Environmental Effects Monitoring

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Evaluation of caged freshwater mussels as an alternative method for environmental effects monitoring (EEM) studies

Environmental Pollution ◽

10.1016/s0269-7491(03)00011-3 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 124 (3) ◽

pp. 471-483 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Pierre Martel ◽

Tibor Kovacs ◽

Ron Voss ◽

Stan Megraw

Keyword(s):

Environmental Effects ◽

Freshwater Mussels ◽

Alternative Method ◽

Environmental Effects Monitoring

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Seasonal reproductive patterns and recommended sampling times for sentinel fish species used in environmental effects monitoring programs in Canada

Environmental Reviews ◽

10.1139/a10-004 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 18 (NA) ◽

pp. 115-135 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Timothy J. Barrett ◽

Kelly R. Munkittrick

Keyword(s):

Fish Species ◽

Environmental Effects ◽

Reproductive Strategy ◽

Mining Industry ◽

Pulp And Paper ◽

Reproductive Pattern ◽

Metal Mining ◽

Reproductive Patterns ◽

Sampling Times ◽

Environmental Effects Monitoring

Canada’s environmental effects monitoring (EEM) program is currently in its fifth cycle of monitoring for the pulp and paper industry and second cycle of monitoring for the metal mining industry. More than 60 different sentinel fish species have been used in the EEM fish population surveys and reproductive impacts have been identified as an issue of concern in the pulp and paper program. A review of the literature was conducted to obtain details of the reproductive biology of each fish species that has been used in EEM studies in Canada. Using available data on seasonal changes in gonadosomatic indices, the seasonal reproductive patterns of Canadian fish species were divided into categories based on reproductive strategy and the timing of initiation of gonadal recrudescence. Recommended sampling times were developed for each reproductive pattern based on periods of temporal stability, minimum variability, and maximum value in gonadosomatic indices within a reproductive cycle. The reproductive strategy, spawning time, spawning temperature, and recommended sampling time were provided for the each sentinel fish species as well as life history characteristics including longevity, age and size at maturity, and mobility. Examination of the fish surveys using small bodied forage species from the EEM pulp and paper program revealed that approximately 72% of these studies were not conducted at the developed recommended sampling times and the magnitude of impacts may be underestimated by failing to sample at the recommended time.

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The discontinuity of environmental effects monitoring in the Lower Athabasca region of Alberta, Canada: institutional challenges to long-term monitoring and cumulative effects management

Environmental Reviews ◽

10.1139/er-2017-0083 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 26 (2) ◽

pp. 169-180 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Joshua G. Cronmiller ◽

Bram F. Noble

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Environmental Monitoring ◽

Environmental Effects ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Monitoring Program ◽

Institutional Arrangements ◽

Cumulative Effects ◽

Regulatory Decision ◽

Monitoring Programs

Long-term regional environmental monitoring, coupled with shorter-term and more localized monitoring carried out under regulatory permitting processes, is foundational to identifying, understanding, and effectively managing cumulative environmental effects. However, monitoring programs that emerge to support cumulative effects science are often short-lived initiatives or disconnected from land use planning and regulatory decision making. This paper examines the history and evolution of environmental monitoring in the Lower Athabasca region of Alberta, Canada, and the enabling and constraining influences of institutional arrangements. Methods involved a review of regional-scale monitoring programs based on an analysis of monitoring agency mandates, performance reports, and external program reviews, supplemented by discussions with monitoring program or agency key informants to triangulate results. Results show that monitoring to support cumulative effects understanding in the Lower Athabasca has advanced considerably, especially since the mid-1990s, but its relevance to, and impact on, cumulative effects management and decision making has been stifled by institutional arrangements. Monitoring has been episodic, reflecting shifting priorities and competing mandates; criticized by stakeholders based on concerns about transparency, credibility, influence over decision making; and characterized by short-lived commitments by the agencies involved. This has generated significant uncertainty about the stability of institutional arrangements to support long-term environmental monitoring, and tensions between the need for scientific autonomy for credible science whilst ensuring the pursuit of monitoring questions that are relevant to the day-to-day needs of regulatory decision makers. Regional monitoring programs require, at a minimum, clear vision and agreed-upon monitoring questions that are of scientific and management value, meaningful and balanced stakeholder engagement, and a clear governance process to ensure credibility and influence of monitoring results on decision making.

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