Niagara River Fish & Wildlife Populations Indicator - Status Change

A Remedial Action Plan (or RAP) is a document that outlines activities to improve water quality and ecosystem health at specific environmentally degraded locations within the Great Lakes called Areas of Concern. The Niagara River is identified by Canada and the U.S. as one of 43 Areas of Concern requiring a RAP.

The Niagara River RAP is implemented by a local partnership between government (federal, provincial, municipal), First Nations, Métis Nation of Ontario, the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, non-government organizations, scientists/academics, and other interested groups. The RAP team works together to improve the Niagara River’s water quality and ecosystem health. 

Learn more at www.niagarariver.ca.

A beneficial use impairment or BUI occurs when human activities interfere with the environmental, social, or recreational benefits of water. The type and number of BUIs designated in an Area of Concern are used to identify and implement appropriate remedial actions (e.g., impaired ability to swim safely because of bacterial contamination; restricted ability to  eat fish due to chemicals in fish flesh).

The Niagara River RAP Team uses the collective status of all BUIs to track the overall condition and health of the Niagara River. 

Specific goals (delisting criteria) have been developed for each BUI which, when achieved, can be confidently used to designate that particular beneficial use as no longer impaired.

Scientists have conducted several studies to understand the status of the Niagara River’s fish community and the health of colonial waterbirds (fish-eating birds). 

The evidence from a comprehensive multi-year fish community assessment shows that:

• There is a healthy diversity of fish species in the Niagara River.
• The composition of fish species using the Upper and Lower Niagara River is similar to that of their adjacent Great Lake, indicating no undue local impacts within the Niagara River; and
• Niagara River fish populations support recreational fishing in a way similar to other connecting channels. 

The evidence from a long-term colonial waterbird study shows that:

• concentrations of contaminants within Niagara River fish-eating colonial waterbird eggs are similar to adjacent reference sites and remain stable or have decreased over time; and
• contaminants within colonial waterbirds do not affect their populations or their ability to reproduce (i.e., no adverse population-level effects).

Partners implementing the Niagara River Remedial Action Plan are committed to continuing long-term wildlife monitoring plans at several sites along the Upper Niagara River. There are several monitoring programs implemented by other agencies involved in the implementation of the Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and the Canada-Ontario Agreement on the Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health that will continue beyond the Niagara River Remedial Action Plan framework and scope involving fish and wildlife populations.

Additionally, a long-term wildlife monitoring plan specific to the Niagara River was developed by Birds Canada in collaboration with staff from the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority and Niagara Parks Commission. The plan guides community-based monitoring efforts using established protocols and tools such as the Great Lakes Marsh Monitoring Program and eBird. 

A full list of existing monitoring programs that function external to the RAP program can be found in Appendix 2 of the Degradation of Fish & Wildlife BUI Assessment Report. 

The RAP program is intended to address specific legacy environmental issues caused by historical, local activities within the AOC. 

Other threats that are not exclusive to the Niagara River, such as invasive species and impacts from climate change, are beyond the scope of the RAP program. However, other agencies involved in the implementation of the Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and the Canada-Ontario Agreement on the Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health lead programs aimed at addressing these issues.  

A full list of existing monitoring programs that function external to the RAP program can be found in Appendix 2 of the Degradation of Fish & Wildlife BUI Assessment Report.