Marine protected areas (MPAs) are one among a number of spatial management tools, and are defined as areas that are established for the long-term, and managed through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values.Currently, Fisheries and Oceans Canada has a number of MPAs designated under the Oceans Act and Areas of Interest for new MPAs at various stages of progress towards designation. These areas are ecologically significant, with species and/or features that require special management consideration.  An Oceans Act MPA can be established for any of the six conservation purposes outlined in the Act:• The conservation and protection of commercial and non-commercial fishery resources, including marine mammals, and their habitats;  • The conservation and protection of endangered or threatened marine species, and their habitats;  • The conservation and protection of unique habitats;  • The conservation and protection of marine areas of high biodiversity or biological productivity; • The conservation and protection of any other marine resource or habitat as is necessary to fulfill the mandate of the Minister; and• The conservation and protection of marine areas for the purposes of maintaining ecological integrity

Marine classification schemes based on abiotic surrogates often inform regional marine conservation planning in lieu of detailed biological data. However, theses chemes may poorly represent ecologically relevant biological patterns required for effective design and management strategies. We used a community-level modeling approach to characterize and delineate representative mesoscale (tens to thousands of kilometers) assemblages of demersal fish and benthic invertebrates in the North-west Atlantic. Hierarchical clustering of species occurrence data from four regional annual multispecies trawl surveys revealed three to six groupings (predominant assemblage types) in each survey region, broadly associated with geomorphic and oceanographic features. Indicator analyses identified 3–34 emblematic taxa of each assemblage type. Random forest classifications accurately predicted assemblage dis-tributions from environmental covariates (AUC > 0.95) and identified thermal limits (annual minimum and maximum bottom temperatures) as important pre-dictors of distribution in each region. Using forecasted oceanographic conditions for the year 2075 and a regional classification model, we projected assemblage dis-tributions in the southernmost bioregion (Scotian Shelf-Bay of Fundy) under ahigh emissions climate scenario (RCP 8.5). Range expansions to the north eastare projected for assemblages associated with warmer and shallower waters of the Western Scotian Shelf over the 21st century as thermal habitat on the rela-tively cooler Eastern Scotian Shelf becomes more favorable. Community-level modeling provides a biotic-informed approach for identifying broadscale ecolog-ical structure required for the design and management of ecologically coherent, representative, well-connected networks of Marine Protected Areas. When com-bined with oceanographic forecasts, this modeling approach provides a spatial tool for assessing sensitivity and resilience to climate change, which can improve conservation planning, monitoring, and adaptive management.Cite this data as: O'Brien, J.M., Stanley, R.R.E., Jeffery, N.W., Heaslip, S.W., DiBacco, C., and Wang, Z. Demersal fish and benthic invertebrate assemblages in the Northwest Atlantic.Published: December 2024. Coastal Ecosystems Science Division, Maritimes region, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth NS.https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/14d55ea5-b17d-478c-b9ee-6a7c04439d2b

DFO has committed to establishing a representative network of Marine Conservation Areas collectively comprising 30% of the EEZ by 2030. The MCT 2.0 program was established in 2021 to help achieve this target and establish long-term monitoring within Canadian conservation areas. Information on the distribution of species within a protected area is essential for the management and monitoring of a site. Decisions made on zoning, risk assessment, activity approvals and management effectiveness all require information on the distribution and status of species. The Scotian Shelf-Bay of Fundy Bioregion spans the domain of the Maritimes Region, and within it there are 8 Marine Refuges (MR), 3 Marine Protected Areas (MPA), and 2 Areas of Interest (AOI). Environmental DNA (eDNA) offers a promising approach for biodiversity monitoring that has been gaining increased attention in the marine realm. Through sampling relatively small volumes of water (~3L), eDNA can capture of millions of fragments of eDNA on specialized filters that can then be sequenced to identify the species composition of an area. eDNA metabarcoding is based on the foundations of DNA barcoding, where species are identified solely by their unique DNA sequences. This method is relatively simple, efficient (with the ability to characterize both fish and invertebrate diversity), and non-invasive, meaning there is no disruption of sensitive benthic habitats or need to dissect tissue samples from captured fish and invertebrates. eDNA has been shown to be comparable to other biodiversity censusing techniques and has the potential to rapidly conduct biodiversity surveys over a relatively large area, such as the Eastern Shore Islands AOI. The DFO Maritimes summer multispecies trawl survey is one of the longest-running data series with applications in fisheries stock assessment, and one of the only sources of data for offshore MPA design and monitoring. In this project we pair eDNA samples collected within current and proposed conservation areas with trawl catch data to create a biodiversity and animal community monitoring time series for these areas. We use eDNA and trawl catch data as complementary tools, where trawl-based catch provides information on fish abundance, size distributions and sex, and eDNA provides information on genetic diversity and can detect cryptic and rare species. Cite this data as: Jeffery, N.W. Monitoring regional conservation areas using paired environmental DNA and research trawl surveys. Published: May 2026. Coastal Ecosystems Science Division, Maritimes Region, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth NS.

Includes: * National Parks * National Marine Conservation Areas * heritage canals * National Wildlife Areas * Other Federal Protected areas This dataset is provided by the federal government, and may not include all Federal protected lands.

Marine Protected Areas require comprehensive monitoring to ensure objectives are achieved; however, monitoring natural ecosystems at scale is challenged by the biodiversity it aims to measure. Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding holds promise to address this monitoring challenge. We conducted paired sampling at 54 sites for fish and invertebrate assemblages in the Northwest Atlantic using groundfish trawls and eDNA metabarcoding of benthic seawater using four genetic markers (12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, 18S rRNA, and CO1). Compared to trawling, eDNA detected similar patterns of species turnover, larger estimates of gamma diversity, and smaller estimates of alpha diversity. A total of 63.6% (42/66) of fish species captured by trawling were detected by eDNA, along with an additional 26 species. Of the 24 missed detections by eDNA, 12 were inevitable as they lacked reference sequences. Excluding taxa assigned to higher than species level and those without a species name, 23.6% (17/72) of invertebrate species captured by trawling were detected by CO1, which detected an additional 98 species. We demonstrate that eDNA is capable of detecting patterns of community assemblage and species turnover in an offshore environment, emphasizing its strong potential for a non-invasive, comprehensive, and scalable tool for biodiversity monitoring supporting marine conservation programmes.Cite this data as: Jeffery, N., Rubidge, E., Abbott, C., Westfall, K., Stanley, R. (2024): Data of: eDNA metabarcoding enriches traditional trawl survey data for monitoring biodiversity in the marine environment.Published: August 2024. Coastal Ecosystems Science Division, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth, N.S. https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/43a91ba7-8025-4330-88db-db14022d729d

This line layer describes hiking trails for which Parks Canada has a responsibility. This includes trails found in national parks, national historic sites, and national marine conservation areas.Data is not necessarily complete - updates will occur weekly.

Pelagic Marine Ecounits are intended to describe the sea surface and water column. Two variables were selected to derive pelagic ecounits:1. Salinity and 2. Stratification. The British Columbia Marine Ecological Classification (BCMEC) is a hierarchical classification that delineates Provincial marine areas into Ecozones, Ecoprovinces, Ecoregions and Ecosections. The classification was developed from previous Federal and Provincial marine ecological classifications which were based on 1:2,000,000 scale information. The BCMEC has been developed for marine and coastal planning, resource management and a Provincial marine protected areas strategy. A new, smaller level of classification termed ecounits developed using 1:250,000 scale depth, current, exposure, subsurface relief and substrate was created to verify the larger ecosections, and to delineate their boundaries. CRIMS is a legacy dataset of BC coastal resource data that was acquired in a systematic and synoptic manner from 1979 and was intermittently updated throughout the years. Resource information was collected in nine study areas using a peer-reviewed provincial Resource Information Standards Committee consisting of DFO Fishery Officers, First Nations, and other subject matter experts. There are currently no plans to update this legacy data.

Seagrasses support multiple key ecosystem functions (e.g., sediment stabilization, carbon storage, nursery habitat) in nearshore environments across all three Canadian coastlines. Eelgrass (Zostera marina) is a seagrass species that has been designated as an Ecologically Significant Species (ESS) and is the most widely distributed and abundant seagrass in Canada. Given the considerable conservation and management interest in eelgrass habitats, large-scale data aggregation efforts have been initiated to generate comprehensive distribution maps of eelgrass coverage in Canadian coastal waters. However, extensive portions of the Newfoundland coastline have not yet been surveyed for the presence of eelgrass. We combine spatial data layers describing shoreline characteristics, relative exposure index (REI), depth, and freshwater inputs to delineate areas potentially suitable for eelgrass growth in Newfoundland. We determined that many nearshore environments could potentially support eelgrass habitats but confirming eelgrass presence will require further validation and ground-truthing. Incorporating distribution models that use environmental covariates to estimate probabilities of occurrence in nearshore areas could help to strengthen these predictions. Mapping eelgrass distributions provides baseline data essential to eelgrass monitoring and implementation of coastal marine conservation, informing emergency response, and is particularly important considering the consequences associated with the potential loss of ecosystem functions in the event of eelgrass decline. King, B.G.C., Gullage, L., Butt, K., Warren, M., Allard, K., Gregory, R.S., and Byrne, M.A. 2026. Using shoreline characteristics, relative exposure, depth, and freshwater inputs as surrogate measures to identify areas potentially suitable for eelgrass (Zostera marina) in Newfoundland. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 3737: vii + 22 p.https://doi.org/10.60825/7thp-4425

Significant climate change impacts are highly likely in all Canadian marine and freshwater basins, with effects increasing over time (DFO 2012). Climate models project that ecosystems and fisheries across Canada will be disrupted into the foreseeable future (Lotze et al. 2019; Bryndum-Buchholz et al. 2020; Tittensor et al. 2021; Boyce et al. 2024). Despite its imminence, climate change is infrequently factored into Canada’s primary marine conservation strategies, such as spatial planning (O’Regan et al. 2021) or fisheries management (Boyce et al. 2021; Pepin et al. 2022). The Climate Risk Index for Biodiversity (CRIB) was developed to assess climate risk for marine species in a quantitative, spatially explicit, and scalable manner, supporting climate-informed decision-making. It has been used to evaluate climate risks for marine life globally (Boyce et al. 2022), regionally (Lewis et al. 2023; Boyce et al. 2024; Keen et al. 2023), for fisheries (Boyce et al. 2024), and in support of spatial conservation planning (Keen et al. 2023). This dataset contains climate vulnerability and risk estimates from the CRIB framework adapted to consider warming at both the sea surface and its bottom for 145 marine species of conservation or fisheries interest across Canada’s marine territory. Climate risk is available at a 0.25-degree resolution under two contrasting emission scenarios to 2100. For each species, location, and scenario, 12 climate indexes, three vulnerability dimensions, and an overall vulnerability and risk score are provided. The accompanying report describes the data, methods, and workflow used to calculate risk. This report also guides the interpretation of these data to inform and support climate-informed decision-making in Canada.

Funded under DFO's Marine Conservation Targets Program in partnership with the Huntsman Marine Science Centre (HMSC), this diver-based imagery and sample collection benthic survey documents the occurrence of sponges at 42 dive sites in the Eastern Shore Islands (ESI) Area of Interest (AOI, ~2089 km2) off the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada from dive surveys conducted in summer 2021 and 2022. Water quality, species occurrences and counts, habitat, slope, and substrate characteristics were catalogued through diver log sheets, camera imagery, specimen vouchers, and high-resolution bathymetric data. A total of 54 dives to depths from 11 to 33 m (below sea level), collecting up to 147 still images, one-hour of video, and 17 specimen samples per site, resulted in 220 observations for 27 different sponge taxa. This included three new records for Canada (Hymedesmia stellifera, Plocamionida arndti, Hymedesmia jecusculum) and a range extension for a species new to science (Crellomima mehqisinpekonuta) which was recently described from the Bay of Fundy. There were also four species which may seem to be new to science (Halichondria sp., Hymedesmia sp., Protosuberires sp., and Sphaerotylus sp.). Sponges were found to occupy a diversity of micro-habitats, often several different ones in proximity. A total of eight distinct habitat classes were defined, based on varying abundances and diversity of sponges and associated benthic species. These are likely widely distributed among the many complex submerged seabed features within this AOI. Collected specimens were preserved and are stored at the Atlantic Reference Centre (ARC) in St. Andrew's, New Brunswick.Cite this data as: Goodwin, C., Cooper, J.A., Lawton, P., Teed, L.L. 2025. Sponge occurrence and associated species and habitat descriptions derived from the 2021 and 2022 SCUBA diving surveys in the Eastern Shore Islands Area of Interest, Nova Scotia. Version 1.4. Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Occurrence dataset. https://ipt.iobis.org/obiscanada/resource?r=eastern_shore_islands_sponge_survey_2021_2022&v=1.4