Ontario Stream Assessment Protocol (OSAP)

This course is designed to train and certify users in a variety of standardized Ontario Stream Assessment Protocol (OSAP) manual techniques for evaluating habitat, invertebrate, and fish communities in wadeable streams.

Course Description

The methods taught in this course are provincially recognized as standards by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and federally recognized by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

The techniques require varying levels of effort and provide data with a corresponding range of precision.

Who Should Attend?

This course is intended for field crews and resource managers who are involved in stream surveys and management.

Learning Objectives

The course is organized into units that will provide training in:

1. Reading a river and selecting site boundaries (Section 1)
2. Conducting fisheries and temperature surveys (Section 2 and 5)
3. A number of modules that characterize physical habitat and geomorphology

About This Course

This is an intensive hands-on course; it combines classroom, laboratory, and field sessions, with emphasis on quality assurance.

Most units will consist of a morning lecture, travel to a stream, demonstration of techniques, supervised application of one or more modules, data entry and verification, debriefing, and testing.

Students should be prepared for some evening work.

A copy of the OSAP manual will be provided to registrants at the course. An electronic version of the manual is available below and we encourage participants to read it prior to the course.

Meals and accommodations are not included.

Instruction for the course is provided through a partnership between Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Royal Ontario Museum, and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA).

Recognition

Participants will receive a certificate to verify the completion of their training.

Contact Us

For more information, please contact:
Jeff Vandenberg, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA)
jeff.vandenberg@trca.ca
(365) 566-2416

TRCA HST Registration number: 10808 8584 RT001

Cancellation Policy

A $50.00 cancellation fee will be applied to any cancellation received before Friday, May 23, 2025. No refunds will be given for any cancellations received after this date. In order for this course to run we will require a minimum of 12 participants to register; the deadline to meet this registration threshold will be Friday, May 23, 2025. If the requirement is not met by this date, the course will not run. If the course is cancelled a full refund will be issued.

Reference Materials

VIEW THE TRAINING VIDEOS

Select the icon in the top right of frame to view the full playlist.

READ THE COURSE MANUAL & MATERIALS

OSAP Course Manual (Version 10)
The Ontario Stream Assessment Protocol (OSAP) contains a series of standardized methodologies for identifying sites and evaluating benthos, fish communities, physical habitat and water temperatures in wadeable streams. The OSAP provides standard methodologies that allow data to be shared, used for multiple purposes and stored in a common database.

OSAP Compendium Manual: Guidelines for Designing and Interpreting Stream Surveys in Ontario (Ver. 1.1. 2003)
The materials provided in this manual are intended to compliment the procedures described in the Ontario Stream Assessment Protocol by providing advice on study design and interpretation of results.

Flowing Waters Information System
The Flowing Waters Information System (FWIS) helps Ontario’s conservation practitioners to manage information on flowing waters or streams, including data about fisheries, benthos, habitat and more. View the Introduction to the Flowing Waters Information System video.

2019 OSAP FIELD FORMS
(Updated to enable digital input)