Order Acknowledging Receipt of the Assessment Done Under Subsection 23(1) of the Species at Risk Act (American Eel): SI/2025-109

Canada Gazette, Part II, Volume 159, Number 26

Registration
SI/2025-109 December 17, 2025

SPECIES AT RISK ACT

P.C. 2025-846 November 28, 2025

Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of the Environment, acknowledges receipt, on the making of this Order, of the assessment done under subsection 23(1) of the Species at Risk Act^{footnote a} by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) with respect to the wildlife species set out in the annexed schedule.

Order Acknowledging Receipt of the Assessment Done Under Subsection 23(1) of the Species at Risk Act (American Eel)

SCHEDULE

Threatened Species

Fish
Eel, American (Anguilla rostrata)
Anguille d’Amérique

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order.)

Proposal

The Order in Council acknowledges receipt of the assessment by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) of the status of American Eel (Anguilla rostrata) done in 2012.

Objective

The objective of this Order is to acknowledge receipt of the 2012 assessment of American Eel.

Background

American Eel was assessed as Special Concern in 2006 and reassessed as Threatened in 2012. The assessments were conducted by COSEWIC in accordance with the Species at Risk Act (SARA).

The purpose of SARA is to prevent wildlife species from being extirpated or becoming extinct; to provide for the recovery of wildlife species that are extirpated, endangered, or threatened as a result of human activity; and to manage species of special concern to prevent them from becoming endangered or threatened. COSEWIC was established as an independent scientific body with a mandate to provide a single, official, scientifically sound, national classification of wildlife species in Canada.

The 2012 COSEWIC assessment found that there has been a substantial decline in American Eel abundance in both the juvenile and adult life stages over a significant portion of its Canadian distribution, with declines having been most severe in the St. Lawrence Basin and Lake Ontario. The assessment identified the threats to American Eel as commercial fisheries on small (glass and elver) and large (yellow and silver) eels; threats associated with physical obstructions, notably dams, resulting in loss of productive habitat and fragmentation; turbine mortality at hydroelectric facilities; the bioaccumulation of contaminants; and the introduction of the exotic swim bladder nematode parasite. Climate change and shifting oceanographic conditions were also noted as concerns.

Implications

Acknowledging receipt of the 2012 assessment starts the nine-month timeline set out in SARA for the Governor in Council (GIC), on the recommendation of the Minister of the Environment, to either add American Eel to the List of wildlife species at risk, decide not to add the species to the List, or to refer the matter back to COSEWIC for further information or consideration.

If the GIC has not taken a course of action within nine months after acknowledging receipt of the 2012 COSEWIC assessment, the Minister of the Environment must, by order, amend Schedule 1 of SARA in accordance with COSEWIC’s assessment.

Contact

Species at Risk Program
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
200 Kent Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0E6
Email: SARA_LEP@dfo-mpo.gc.ca