News Release

Ottawa, Ontario, November 26, 2004

Alien species threaten Canadian biodiversity
Number of Canadian species at risk increases to 455

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) met in Ottawa on November 22-25 to assess the status of several wildlife species. The American Chestnut was assessed as Endangered. Once a common tree of southern Ontario, much valued as a source of food and building materials, it was devastated by an introduced fungus. The few chestnut trees that remain are far from each other, many cannot reproduce and several are affected by the disease.

Alien invasive species, including parasites and pathogens, threaten many of the species assessed by COSEWIC. Introduced rats destroy Ancient Murrelet eggs and nestlings in the Queen Charlotte Islands, an Asiatic fungus kills Chestnut trees in Ontario, Bullfrogs brought from the east to British Columbia displace the native Red-legged Frogs and exotic grasses choke out Swamp Rose-Mallows in Ontario. "Alien invasive species are a major global threat to biodiversity. Increasingly, they have a detrimental effect on Canada's flora and fauna" said Marco Festa-Bianchet, Chair of COSEWIC.

The North Pacific Right Whale, once common off British Columbia, was severely depleted by commercial whaling in the 19th century and almost eliminated by illegal whaling a century later. Only a few tens remain in the eastern Pacific and may occasionally enter Canadian waters. This whale was assessed as Endangered.

The Copper Redhorse, a fish known only from southern Québec, was assessed as Endangered. Its population is small and declining and its habitat has been degraded by agriculture, intense human use and dams which block migration.

COSEWIC assesses the national status of wild species, subspecies, varieties, or other designatable units that are considered to be at risk in Canada. To do so, COSEWIC uses scientific, aboriginal traditional and local or community knowledge provided by many experts from governments, academia and other organizations.

There are now 455 species in various COSEWIC risk categories, including 172 Endangered, 120 Threatened, 141 Special Concern, and 22 Extirpated species (no longer found in the wild in Canada). In addition, 12 are Extinct and 34 are Data Deficient.

COSEWIC comprises members from each provincial and territorial government wildlife agency, four federal entities (Canadian Wildlife Service, Parks Canada Agency, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and the Federal Biodiversity Information Partnership, chaired by the Canadian Museum of Nature), three non-jurisdictional members and the co-chairs of the species specialist and the Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge subcommittees.

Definition of COSEWIC terms and risk categories:

• Wildlife Species: A species, subspecies, variety, or geographically or genetically distinct population of animal, plant or other organism, other than a bacterium or virus, that is wild by nature and it is either native to Canada or has extended its range into Canada without human intervention and has been present in Canada for at least 50 years.
  
  
• Extinct (X): A wildlife species that no longer exists
• Extirpated (XT): A wildlife species no longer existing in the wild in Canada, but occurring elsewhere
• Endangered (E): A wildlife species facing imminent extirpation or extinction
• Threatened (T): A wildlife species likely to become endangered if limiting factors are not reversed
• Special Concern (SC): A wildlife species that may become a threatened or an endangered species because of a combination of biological characteristics and identified threats
• Not at Risk (NAR): A wildlife species that has been evaluated and found to be not at risk of extinction given the current circumstances
• Data Deficient (DD): A wildlife species for which there is inadequate information to make a direct, or indirect, assessment of its risk of extinction.

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For further information, contact:

Further details on all species assessed, and the reasons for designations, can be found on the COSEWIC website at:

www.cosewic.gc.ca