English - Caribbean Environment Programme

3.1 DEVELOPING THE CRITICAL HABITAT APPROACHThe critical habitat approach has been adopted by various scientific bodies, governments andregional cetacean agreements, as a basis for identifying and protecting important habitat forcetaceans. As background information, a summary of this work follows below:North AmericaBoth Canada and the US have enshrined the term 'critical habitat' in their respective endangeredspecies legislation and over the past few years have begun the process of identifying such areasfor listed cetaceans. Although in both cases the term was used and defined for all species(terrestrial and marine), and not specifically cetaceans, these provide useful examples, showinghow the term is being applied and implemented for cetaceans.Canada's Species At Risk Act (SARA) (2002), defines critical habitat as:‘the habitat that is necessary for the survival or recovery of a listed wildlife species and thatis identified as the species' critical habitat in the recovery strategy or in an action plan forthe species’ 37 .Critical habitat has been identified for northern and southern resident killer whales in the coastalwaters of British Columbia 38 and incorporates areas known to be important foraging areas for thisspecies in the summer when salmon, the principal prey of resident killer whales, migrate throughthe area. The critical habitat area for the northern population was designated not just due to itsimportance as a feeding ground, but also because of the traditional use of 'rubbing beaches' in thearea – particular spots where the northern resident killer whales come to skim their bodies alongthe sand and pebbles on the sea floor.As the core summer habitat of these killer whales stretches into US waters, areas have also beendesignated as critical habitat south of the border under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA)(1973). This piece of legislation gives a more detailed definition of critical habitat and how it shouldbe interpreted. Critical habitat is defined as:‘the specific areas within the geographical area occupied by the species, at the time it islisted . . . on which are found those physical or biological features (I) essential to theconservation of the species and which may require special management considerations orprotection; and (II) specific areas outside the geographical area occupied by the species atthe time it is listed upon a determination by the Secretary to be essential for the conservationof the species.’ 39Further guidance is offered in determining whether an area meets this definition as the authoritiesare required to:‘consider those physical or biological features that are essential to the conservation of a givenspecies including space for individual and population growth and for normal behaviour; food,water, air, light, minerals, or other nutritional or physiological requirements; cover or shelter;sites for breeding, reproduction, and rearing of offspring; and habitats that are protected fromdisturbance or are representative of the historical, geographical and ecological distribution ofa species.’ 40These essential biological and physical features are known as 'primary constituent elements', orPCEs, and must be listed with the critical habitat description for a species. For southern residentkiller whales these PCEs were determined to be:(1) Water quality to support growth and development;(2) Prey species of sufficient quantity, quality and availability to support individual growth,reproduction and development, as well as overall population growth; and(3) Passage conditions to allow for migration, resting, and foraging 41 .To determine which specific areas in the region might contain these PCEs, a large sightingsdataset (mostly opportunistic) spanning 14 years was analysed. From this, three specific areaswere identified as containing the PCEs, based on presence and movements of the whales,behavioural observations and studies. In some cases where direct data on PCEs were unavailable,distribution patterns of the whales were used to infer presence of PCEs 42 .1437Species At Risk Act, 2002 Section 2(1)38Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 200939Endangered Species Act (1973), Section 34050 CFR 424.12(b)41NOAA, 200642NMFS, 2006