Proceedings of the regional peer review of the pre-COSEWIC assessment for lake sturgeon designatable units 1-6

In November 2006, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assessed the eight Designatable Units (DUs) of Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) in Canada. COSEWIC is required under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) to review the classification of each species at least every 10 years. As a result Lake Sturgeon was included on COSEWIC’s fall 2014 Call for Bids to produce a status report. COSEWIC plans to re-assess Lake Sturgeon in April 2017. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) held a regional peer review meeting to review information relevant to COSEWIC’s status assessment for Lake Sturgeon, DUs 1–6 on October 27–29, 2015. Meeting participants included DFO (Science and Species at Risk programs), University of Manitoba, Manitoba Hydro, SaskPower, Ontario Power Generation Inc., Laval University, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment, Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship, Alberta Environment and Parks, Saskatchewan Water Security Agency, Carleton University, West Virginia University and the three COSEWIC report co-authors. This Proceedings summarizes the relevant meeting discussions and conclusions from this pre-COSEWIC assessment.