Response Statement - Shortnose Cisco

January 18, 2018

Common Name: Shortnose Cisco Scientific Name: Coregonus reighardi

Status assessment by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC): Endangered

How the Minister of the Environment intends to respond to the assessment: The above assessment confirms the classification of the Shortnose Cisco on the List of Wildlife Species at Risk (Schedule 1) as Endangered. Activities will continue to be undertaken in a manner consistent with the purposes of, and according to the timelines identified in, the Species at Risk Act.

Reason(s) for status designation provided by COSEWIC: This species is endemic to three of the Great Lakes. Despite recent surveys at suitable sites and depths using appropriate sampling gear, it was last recorded in Lake Michigan in 1982, in Lake Huron in 1985, and in Lake Ontario in 1964. The species' apparent demise is suspected to be the result of commercial overfishing and possibly competition with, or predation from, introduced species. If remnant populations still exist, they may be further threatened by hybridization with other ciscoes and predation by native species such as Lake Trout.

Occurrence: Ontario

Competent Minister(s): Minister of Fisheries and Oceans

Other applicable legislation: Protected under the Fisheries Protection and Pollution Prevention provisions of the Fisheries Act.

Conservation activities underway: The recovery strategy for Shortnose Cisco, published in 2012 on the Species at Risk Public Registry, does not recommend management actions for the species as it has not been observed in over 25 years from the lakes where it once occurred. The species is believed to be extirpated, although it does not yet meet the formal criteria for that designation (i.e. elapsed time since last credible record > 50 years).