Applying a regional coastal wetland monitoring framework to refine and report on wildlife and habitat delisting criteria in the Bay of Quinte Area of Concern

In most Canadian Areas of Concern, fish and wildlife populations and their habitats (i.e. Beneficial Use Impairments 3 and 14) have been listed as impaired. While much work has addressed other Beneficial Use Impairments, there has often been a lack of specific data and methodologies for evaluating fish and wildlife populations and their habitats. This article presents a methodology for refining delisting criteria for wildlife and habitat Beneficial Use Impairments in the Bay of Quinte Area of Concern using indices of condition in a coastal wetland monitoring framework. Data have been collected to provide information on loss of fish and wildlife habitat (water quality and submerged aquatic vegetation and aquatic macroinvertebrate communities) and degradation of fish and wildlife populations (fish, amphibian and breeding bird communities). Three potential models for delisting are presented using the submerged aquatic vegetation community data as an example. For all coastal wetland attributes considered through the framework, Bay of Quinte coastal wetlands were generally in better condition than other Canadian sites along the Lake Ontario shoreline.