Principles and Challenges for Multi-Stakeholder Development of Focused, Tiered, and Triggered, Adaptive Monitoring Programs for Aquatic Environments

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.

Download Full-text

Pulp and Paper Environmental Effects Monitoring in Canada: An Overview

Water Quality Research Journal ◽

10.2166/wqrj.2002.003 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 37 (1) ◽

pp. 7-19 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Sherry L. Walker ◽

Kathleen Hedley ◽

Edward Porter

Keyword(s):

Environmental Effects ◽

Fish Habitat ◽

Monitoring Program ◽

Research Priorities ◽

Pulp And Paper ◽

Paper Mills ◽

Fisheries Resources ◽

Pulp And Paper Effluent ◽

Receiving Environments ◽

Environmental Effects Monitoring

Abstract Environmental effects monitoring (EEM) is a requirement for pulp and paper mills in Canada discharging effluent directly into receiving environments under the Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations of the Fisheries Act. The objective of the EEM program is to assess effects on fish, fish habitat and the use of fisheries resources by humans, potentially affected by the deposit of mill effluent in aquatic receiving environments. The information provided by the monitoring program will contribute to assessing the adequacy of the regulations. Difficulties encountered in the first round of monitoring led to an extensive science review of key components and resulted in improvement to process, scientific defensibility of the monitoring data and site-specific flexibility of the EEM program. The second cycle of EEM was, overall, markedly more successful than Cycle 1. However, problems were still evident for fish surveys conducted in marine and estuarine environments. The adoption of improved alternative monitoring approaches (e.g., caged bivalves, mesocosms) should alleviate many of these problems. An overview of the EEM program, results to date, alternative monitoring approaches, and research priorities to fill data gaps are presented.

Download Full-text

Overview of Freshwater Fish Studies from the Pulp and Paper Environmental Effects Monitoring Program

Water Quality Research Journal ◽

10.2166/wqrj.2002.005 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 37 (1) ◽

pp. 49-77 ◽

Cited By ~ 49

Author(s):

Kelly R. Munkittrick ◽

S. Anne McGeachy ◽

Mark E. McMaster ◽

Simon C. Courtenay

Keyword(s):

Study Design ◽

Environmental Effects ◽

Monitoring Program ◽

Pulp And Paper ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Liver Size ◽

Sampling Protocols ◽

Survey Results ◽

General Response ◽

Environmental Effects Monitoring

Abstract The second cycle of the pulp and paper environmental effects monitoring (EEM) program reported its results on April 1, 2000, and preliminary analysis of the fish survey results have been conducted. The EEM program is a cyclical evaluation of the receiving water impacts associated with the discharge of effluent, consisting of evaluations of fish populations, benthic invertebrate communities, effluent toxicity and other components. This paper represents a summary of the preliminary evaluations of 114 EEM surveys for the fish survey results, as reported by the consulting companies to the mills. Less than 10% of the cases failed to find a statistical difference in the key measurements of gonad size, liver size and condition factor. When effects were seen in a sex of one species, 67% of the time, a similar effect was seen in the opposite sex and when a difference was seen in one sex of one species, 54% of the time, the same difference was seen in the same direction in a second species sampled at that site. This reflects that differences were often consistent between sexes and consistent between species. Results, problems encountered, and lessons learned will be compared for cycle 1 and 2 data, and general response patterns and national trends in reported data will be presented. A summary of research needs is presented, as are recommendations for cycle 3 pulp and paper. New developments in the program reflect some of the adaptations developed for metal mining EEM, including a) setting alpha and beta equal, and its consequences for study design and interpretation, b) discussion of the role of effect size in power analysis and study design, and c) non-lethal sampling protocols for EEM.

Download Full-text

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

Download Full-text

Non-Lethal Sampling Methods for Assessing Environmental Impacts Using a Small-Bodied Sentinel Fish Species

Water Quality Research Journal ◽

10.2166/wqrj.2002.012 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 37 (1) ◽

pp. 195-211 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

Michelle A. Gray ◽

Allen R. Curry ◽

Kelly R. Munkittrick

Keyword(s):

Fish Species ◽

Environmental Effects ◽

Monitoring Program ◽

Survey Study ◽

Paper Mills ◽

The Past ◽

Slimy Sculpin ◽

Receiving Waters ◽

Study Designs ◽

Fisheries Act

Abstract Under the Canadian Fisheries Act, pulp and paper mills and metal mines must conduct a cyclical monitoring program for potential environmental effects that includes a fish survey. Study designs for the fish survey have been evolving over the past few years, and there has been increased emphasis on the use of small-bodied fish species. Increasing concerns about the potential impacts of sampling programs on the fish populations in smaller receiving waters have led us to develop non-lethal sampling methodologies that will satisfy the information requirements for the environmental effects monitoring program. This manuscript outlines the use of a non-lethal sampling program to collect information on age distributions, growth rates, reproductive performance and fish condition in populations of slimy sculpin inhabiting forested and agricultural sections of a small New Brunswick river.

Download Full-text

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

Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry ◽

10.1002/etc.4469 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 38 (9) ◽

pp. 1890-1901 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Bruce W. Kilgour ◽

Kelly R. Munkittrick ◽

Liza Hamilton ◽

Catherine L. Proulx ◽

Keith M. Somers ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Environmental Effects ◽

Athabasca River ◽

Monitoring Programs ◽

Environmental Effects Monitoring

Download Full-text

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.

Download Full-text