Measuring the Implementation Success of Watershed-Based Fisheries Management Plans - the Urban Factor

The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), in partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR), is in the process of finalizing two watershed-based Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs) for the TRCA jurisdiction: Rouge River and Don River.  Although setting management priorities or targets is not unique to these FMPs, specifically defining a framework to measure successful implementation of an FMP has not been standard practice in Ontario.  A critical part of this framework links the imperative to plan and manage urban drainage in conjunction with the needs of fish habitat requirements early in the land use planning process.  Another important part is measuring biological improvement or protection by way of implementing a series of spatially tight, and recommended projects that:  address the limiting factor(s) for target fish species production, attain measurable ecological gains or close knowledge gaps and consider the feasibility to complete work within specified timelines.  There is discussion as to whether only interim success can be evaluated prior to landscape stabilization, which will not happen until urbanization plans are complete within a watershed, and then sufficient time elapsed for streams to respond.  This will take decades during which the links between upland changes and aquatic system condition must be understood and appropriately protected in order to achieve the FMP goals of aquatic health and biodiversity.