^{Humpback whale diving in waters of British Columbia, with misty fog shrouded hills of the Great Bear Rainforest in the background. Photo: Bobbushphoto/iStock}

The federal Species at Risk Act was implemented in 2003 as a legal mechanism to identify, protect, and drive the recovery of wildlife species listed as at-risk in Canada. While the Species at Risk Act has received criticism that it fails to protect Canadian biodiversity due to listing process delays and biases, there are clear examples of progress in recovery planning and management actions. This collection highlights the diverse research and practice contributing to the recovery of species at risk across Canada, with an emphasis on aquatic species, both freshwater and marine. Topics span taxonomic groups and also tie to a wide toolbox of approaches used in species at risk recovery strategies and their recent advances, including population monitoring, habitat restoration, delineation of habitat requirements and tolerances, reintroduction, and strategies for threat monitoring and mitigation. This collection will illustrate the multidisciplinary approaches that come into play during species at risk recovery, and how to increase interconnectedness and transferability across the aquatic sciences. This collection will emphasize the links between science, policy, and practice. In addition to research focused on federally-listed species, it will also include papers focused on provincial and territorial contexts and appreciate the value of a local to national perspective. Finally, the collection will be forward-thinking with contributions highlighting research priorities for the future of species at risk protection and recovery in Canadian aquatic systems.

New submissions welcome

This collection is currently open and will be continually updated with relevant articles published in FACETS. The submission deadline is November 30, 2023. To have your article considered for this collection, at step 3 of the submission process in ScholarOne specify that your manuscript is intended for Progress and Priorities for the Recovery of Aquatic Species at Risk in Canada.

Papers included in the collection represent a combination of those contributed for a special session at the Society of Canadian Aquatic Sciences annual conference (February 2023) and other researchers in the field.

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