New species added to Canada's growing list of endangered wildlife

A recent assessment conducted in Kelowna shows that several of Canada’s species continue to decline and 10 new species have been added to the country’s assessment of wildlife list.

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) recently met to evaluate the conservation status of 26 Canadian species and added the 10 to a growing list of 739.

"The poor condition of species that we examined during this meeting is, unfortunately, quite typical of what we see year after year", remarked Dr. Eric Taylor, Chair of the committee and professor of Zoology at the University of British Columbia.

At this meeting, COSEWIC considered many complex cases of species facing the threat of extinction. One example was the Sakinaw Sockeye Salmon. Found only in Sakinaw Lake, B.C., which drains to the Strait of Georgia, this population regularly numbered about 4,500 individuals in the period 1960-1990. However, by 2009, none could be found in the lake. Problems both in marine habitats and in the lake appear to have combined to cause the complete disappearance of wild-breeding fish from this population of Sockeye Salmon.

There is, however, still some hope for this critically Endangered species. According to Alan Sinclair, Co-chair of the COSEWIC Marine Fishes Subcommittee: "A Fisheries and Oceans Canada hatchery program has been using fish of Sakinaw Lake origin to replenish the lake. This could result in the restoration of the population, as spawning of hatchery fish in Sakinaw Lake has been observed. We will know if this recovery effort is successful in a few years."

Almost all Canadians know what a lady beetle (or "lady bug") is, but few people are aware that there are 161 species in Canada -- nine of which are non-native. These invasive lady beetles have become firmly established and have been slowly replacing the native species. For instance, the Nine-spotted Lady Beetle was once one of our most common and widely distributed native lady beetles, but was assessed by COSEWIC as Endangered owing to the major impacts of competition and predation.

To date, COSEWIC has assessed 739 species that occur in Canada: 209 are considered Special Concern, 172 have been given a Threatened status, 320 are considered Endangered, 23 are Extirpated (no longer found in Canada), and 15 have been declared as Extinct globally.