Assessment of Methods for the Identification of Critical Habitat for Freshwater Mussels

Critical habitat is defined under Section 2 of Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA) as, “the habitat necessary for the survival or recovery of a listed wildlife species and that is identified as the species’ critical habitat in the recovery strategy or in an action plan for the species”. SARA requires the development of recovery strategies for species listed as Endangered, Threatened or Extirpated under the Act (SARA, Schedule 1). Once designated, SARA provides provisions to protect critical habitat of these species. Current species at risk policies recommend that science information to support the identification of critical habitat in Recovery Strategies and Actions Plans be peer reviewed. A peer review of the conceptual approaches to identifying critical habitat for four Ontario fishes was conducted in May 2008 and these approaches will be considered when developing methods specific to freshwater mussels. However, there has been no peer review related to conceptual approaches for the identification of critical habitat for mussels.