Farming in the Great Lakes: Science to inform decisions on the management of cage aquaculture

Session: 22. - How to Talk Science so Policy will Listen, and Listen so Science will Talk?

Ngan Diep, Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, [email protected]
Tybinkowski Mirek, Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, [email protected]
Madhu Malhotra, [email protected]
Brian Cameron, Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, [email protected]
Steven Moggy, Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, [email protected]
Cristina Giannetas, Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, [email protected]
Jim Martherus, Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, [email protected]
Jennifer Winter, Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Env. Monitoring & Reporting Branch, [email protected]

Abstract

In the 1980s the first freshwater cage aquaculture systems (< 50 metric tonnes) were established in the upper Great Lakes, primarily in the public waters of Georgian Bay and Manitoulin Island.  In the 1990s, they replaced land-based production as the main producers and the major implication to the environment is the switch from a collect and treat cultivation system to a direct discharge system.  Over the last 15 years, concerted effort was made to develop science-based policy objectives for facilities to demonstrate the environmentally sustainable use of our public trust resource.  Science was a key pillar and its application in the development of these policies was iterative.  It was used to characterize the range of potential effects and identification of key metrics as well for the evaluation of potential scenarios and associated implications.  In the absence of agreed-to user defined goals, communication of the science was used to establish context and scope, enabling the development and articulation of common environmental goals.  We will present to you the highlights of how science was used not only in the development of Ontario’s Cage Aquaculture policies, but also how it bridged the disparity between perceived user-conflict goals. 

1. Keyword
environmental effects

2. Keyword
sediment quality

3. Keyword
water quality