Question Period Note: Striped Bass (St. Lawrence River population) –Port of Quebec Expansion and COSEWIC Status Reassessment

• Protecting the environment and biodiversity is a priority for our government. Protecting and recovering species at risk is a shared responsibility, and our government is working with all Canadians in implementing the Species at Risk Act.
• The Port of Quebec expansion project is currently undergoing a rigorous environmental assessment, a process based on science and extensive consultations with Indigenous peoples and the public.
• No decisions have been made at this time as to whether the Project will be allowed to proceed to the regulatory phase and whether authorizations or permits under the Fisheries Act or Species at Risk Act will be required. As Striped Bass (St. Lawrence River population) is an endangered species, it and other aquatic species will be carefully considered when reviewing such applications.
Status of Striped Bass
• The Striped Bass (St. Lawrence River population) is listed as endangered under the Species at Risk Act.
• We are reviewing the recent assessment of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, which concluded that the historical Striped Bass population in the St. Lawrence River is extinct.
• The Striped Bass that are currently found in the St. Lawrence River as a result of provincial stocking efforts benefit from the protections of the Species at Risk Act and from the fish and fish habitat protections under the Fisheries Act.

• The Striped Bass (St. Lawrence River population) was assessed by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) as Extirpated in 2004 and listed as such under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) in 2011. In 2012, COSEWIC reassessed the population as Endangered and its status under SARA was updated in August 2019. On November 25, 2019, COSEWIC reconsidered the status of Striped Bass (St. Lawrence River population) and reassessed it as Extinct, to rectify what it considers to have been an error made in its 2012 reassessment. COSEWIC announced this change on December 2, 2019.
• The re-establishment of Striped Bass in the St. Lawrence River is the result of a successful stocking program initiated by the Province of Quebec in 2002 using fish from the Miramichi River (Gulf of St. Lawrence Striped Bass population). A self-sustaining spawning population has now been established and the population is thought to be increasing and expanding its distribution.[Redacted].
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• The location of the existing Port of Quebec (at Beauport) and proposed area for expansion of a wharf at that location overlaps with a proposed area of Striped Bass critical habitat. This area, which has unique hydrographical features, has been identified as a significant aggregation area used for Striped Bass spawning. This same area is highly productive and also important habitat for many other aquatic species.
• Regardless of the recent COSEWIC finding, the Striped Bass population established through the stocking program are protected by the fish and fish habitat provisions in s. 35 of the Fisheries Act. These include provisions regarding the death of fish, and regarding harmful alteration, disruption and destruction of fish habitat.

Port of Quebec (Beauport 2020)
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