SummaryThe Quebec region of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is responsible for the assessment of several fish and invertebrate stocks exploited in the Estuary and the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence. The commercial catches sampling program is one of the sources of information used to complete these assessments. The data collected by this program, at wharf or at sea, offers among other things the advantage of a relatively large spatio-temporal coverage and provides some of the necessary knowledge to assess the demography and the structure of the exploited populations. This program is implemented by specialized DFO staff whose main mandate is to collect biological data on groundfish, pelagic fish and marine invertebrate species that are commercially exploited in the various marine communities.DataThis dataset on the capelin (Mallotus villosus) includes the metadata, sample weight, fish length, the sex and the number of specimens measured. This dataset covers the period of 1988 to present. In order to protect the confidentiality of the sources, some informations (such as those concerning the vessel) have been excluded and others (such as the date of capture) have been simplified. Entries where there was only one vessel in a fishing area for a given year were also excluded. Further information including the fishing areas coordinates can be found by clicking on the «Atlantic and Arctic commercial fisheries» and «Fishing areas» links below.

Important sites: reproduction, feeding and concentration area. Data extracted from the Fish Habitat Management Information System (FHAMIS) according to a literature review of documents produced between 1976 and 1999.

The Quebec region of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is responsible for the assessment of several fish and invertebrate stocks exploited in the Estuary and the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence. The commercial catches sampling program is one of the sources of information used to complete these assessments. The data collected by this program, at wharf or at sea, offers among other things the advantage of a relatively large spatio-temporal coverage and provides some of the necessary knowledge to assess the demography and the structure of the exploited populations. This program is implemented by specialized DFO staff whose main mandate is to collect biological data on groundfish, pelagic fish and marine invertebrate species that are commercially exploited in the various marine communities.The following species have been sampled by this program from 1976 to present:1. American lobster (Homarus americanus)2. American plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides)3. Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)4. Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus)5. Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus)6. Atlantic lyre crab (Hyas araneus)7. Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus)8. Atlantic surfclam (Spisula solidissima)9. Arctic Lyre Crab (Hyas coarctatus)10. Capelin (Mallotus villosus)11. Common softshell clam (Mya arenaria)12. Giant scallop (Placopecten magellanicus)13. Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides)14. Green urchin (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis)15. Iceland scallop (Chlamys islandica)16. Redfish (Sebastes sp.)17. Rock crab (Cancer irroratus)18. Sea cucumber (Cucumaria frondosa)19. Snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio)20. Stimpson surfclam (Mactromeris polynyma)21. Waved whelk (Buccinum undatum)22. White hake (Urophycis tenuis)23. Winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus)24. Yellowtail flounder (Limanda ferruginea)For more information concerning these species, see the «Related Products» section below.

Since 1985, research surveys targeting scallops—primarily the sea scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) and, to a lesser extent, the Icelandic scallop (Chlamys islandica)—have been conducted by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) at one- or two-year intervals around the Magdalen Islands (fishing area 20A). The main objective of this survey is to assess the status of sea scallop stocks. The study area is situated south of the Magdalen Islands, where scallop beds are typically sampled at depths ranging from approximately 25 to 35 m. Sampling stations are randomly selected from a predetermined fixed grid, with sampling conducted along transects at these randomly assigned locations within the study area. Each station is sampled using a lined Digby scallop dredge (20 mm mesh size), towed for roughly 500 m across the seabed.This publication includes three files: the file biometriePetoncle_20, which contains detailed biometric data (species, size, weights and sex) from 1998 to 2024; the file taillePetoncle_20, which provides the size of the individuals sampled from 2009 to 2024; and the file traitPetoncle_20 which contains the abundances and densities per tow from 2009 to 2024. Data on abundances and densities per tow from 1998-2008 is available upon request.This dataset is updated every one to two years as data becomes available. A cleaning of aberrant data has been carried out. However, there is missing data in various columns of the dataset – use the data with caution. If you have any questions please contact DFO.DataManagementSAISB-GestionDonneesDAISS.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca or the author. For certain time periods, associated species are identified and semi-quantitatively counted directly on the sorting table, and the results are presented in the following publications: - https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/6529a4b0-f863-4568-ac71-1fa26cf68679- https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/71732ad5-5c70-4dbf-916d-a94e1380c53b 

The Copper Redhorse (Moxostoma hubbsi) is the only fish whose distribution is exclusively restricted to Quebec. This range is restricted even further to the St. Lawrence River and some of its tributaries.This layer represents the Copper Redhorse critical habitat defined by the analysis of available knowledge and a scientific advice.PurposeThe Copper Redhorse population is in decline due to several threats like habitat degradation, construction of dams, contaminants, exotic or introduced species, recreational activities, commercial fishery, and low water levels. Furthermore, certain biological characteristics of the Copper Redhorse contribute to its vulnerability. The Copper Redhorse population was officialy listed as endangered in Schedule I of the Species at Risk Act in December 2007.Additional InformationCritical habitat for the Copper Redhorse has been identified to the extent possible, based on the best available information. Two workshops held in 2009 and 2010 by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Ministère des Ressources Naturelles et de la Faune du Québec, allowed to review the information and take note of the new data to identify habitat use by the Copper Redhorse in the St. Lawrence and Richelieu rivers and later in the Rivière des Prairies and Rivière des Milles Îles. Adult feeding habitat in the St. Lawrence River between Lake Saint-Louis and Lake Saint-Pierre, was identified using modeling based on the telemetric monitoring of habitat use and on twelve habitat variables (for example: depth, current velocity, vegetation density). Also, recent telemetry and historic data confirmed the use of the lower stretches of the Rivière des Prairies and Rivière des Mille Îles. Critical adult feeding habitat is consequently identified as habitat in the fluvial reach between Montreal and Sorel presenting favorable characteristics for the copper redhorse, used in the model.DFO. 2012. Recovery Strategy for the Copper Redhorse (Moxostoma hubbsi) in Canada. Species at Risk Act Recovery Strategy Series. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Ottawa. xi+60 pp.https://www.registrelep-sararegistry.gc.ca/document/doc1565p/ind_e.cfm

Toponymic Features entity is Named Feature (geographical name or toponym). CanVec is a digital cartographic reference product of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). It originates from the best available data sources covering Canadian territory, offers quality topographical information in vector format, and complies with international geomatics standards. CanVec is a multi-source product coming mainly from the National Topographic Data Base (NTDB), the Mapping the North process conducted by the Canada Center for Mapping and Earth Observation (CCMEO), the Atlas of Canada data, the GeoBase initiative, and the data update using satellite imagery coverage (e.g. Landsat 7, Spot, Radarsat, etc.).Distributed from [GeoYukon](https://yukon.ca/geoyukon) by the [Government of Yukon](https://yukon.ca/maps) . Discover more digital map data and interactive maps from Yukon's digital map data collection.For more information: [geomatics.help@gov.yk. ca](mailto:geomatics.help@yukon.ca)

Biological samples of Geoduck Clams have been collected during surveys in British Columbia as part of the broader survey objectives of determining Geoduck density, distribution and population structure. Samples of Geoducks were collected from 41 locations throughout British Columbia between 1993 and 2002. Clams were measured for total weight, shell length, shell weight and were aged. Biological parameters are presented here for individual clams sampled. See Bureau D., W. Hajas, N.W. Surry, C.M. Hand, G. Dovey and A. Campbell. 2002. Age, size structure and growth parameters of Geoducks (Panopea abrupta, Conrad 1849) from 34 locations in British Columbia sampled between 1993 and 2000. Can Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2413: 84 p. and Bureau D., W. Hajas, C.M. Hand and G. Dovey. 2003. Age, size structure and growth parameters of Geoducks (Panopea abrupta, Conrad 1849) from seven locations in British Columbia sampled in 2001 and 2002. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2494: 29 p.

In celebration of the tremendous diversity of tree species that tell the story of our culture and history, the NCC released in September 2020 a compilation of close to 170 remarkable trees across Canada’s Capital region entitled A Living Legacy: Remarkable Trees of Canada’s Capital. An interactive map and downloadable book are available for free on the NCC’s website and will allow the public to discover distinctive features of these trees, revealing a story of the beauty of our natural heritage through the rich diversity of species thriving within Canada’s Capital. This compilation features trees according to their commonalities, which can include their physical relationship with the land, the fact that they were a source of food for Indigenous peoples, or for their contribution to the forest industry.https://ncc-ccn.gc.ca/remarkable-treeshttps://ncc-ccn.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=a9ba98fb7e8b4c2ba9be337235b95291

The large, habitat-forming bubblegum coral, Paragorgia arborea, is a vulnerable marine ecosystem indicator with an antitropical distribution. Dense aggregations of the species have been protected from bottom-contact fishing in the Scotian Shelf bioregion off Nova Scotia, Canada in the northwest Atlantic Ocean. Recently, basin-scale habitat suitability ensemble modeling has projected an alarming loss of 99% of suitable habitat for this species across the North Atlantic by 2100. Here, a regional reassessment of the predicted distribution of this species in the bioregion, using both machine learning (random forest) and generalized additive model (GAM) frameworks, including projection to 2046−2065, was undertaken. Extrapolation diagnostics were applied to determine the degree to which the models projected into novel covariate space (i.e., extrapolation) in order to avoid erroneous inferences. The best predictors of the species’ distribution were a suite of temporally-invariant terrain variables that identified suitable habitat along the upper continental slope. Additional predictors, projected to vary with future ocean climatologies, identified areas of the upper slope in the eastern portion of the study area that will remain within suitable ranges for P. arborea at least through to the mid-century. Additionally, 3-D Lagrangian particle tracking simulations indicated potential for both connectivity among known occurrence sites and existing protected areas, and for colonization of unsurveyed areas predicted to have suitable habitat, from locations of known occurrence. These results showed that extirpation of this iconic species from the Scotian Shelf bioregion is unlikely over the next decades. Potential climate refugia were identified and results presented in the context of protected area network design properties of representativity, connectivity, adequacy, viability and resilience. Here we provide the interpolated environmental predictor variables used in present day and future species distribution models. Predicted surfaces from random forest (RF) and generalized additive models (GAM) are provided for present day and projected (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 2045-2065) time frames. Outputs after applying extrapolation diagnostic tools (calculated using the R package dsmextra) are provided for each model. Climate change refugia for this species under the RCP4.5 2045-2065 projections showing analogue conditions are also provided. Explanations for the surfaces can be found in Wang, Murillo & Kenchington (2022) and in the associated supplementary files. Reference:Wang S, Murillo FJ and Kenchington E (2022) Climate-Change Refugia for the Bubblegum Coral Paragorgia Arborea in the Northwest Atlantic. Front. Mar. Sci. 9:863693. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2022.863693

Historical finds of Gilpinia hercyniae