In 1998, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) published an atlas called "Traditional Fisheries Knowledge for the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence". The document is composed of a series of maps that contain useful information primarily on nearshore fisheries and fish habitat in the eastern shore of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and the Gulf Shore of Nova Scotia. It was used as a working tool to assist in the development of integrated coastal zone management plans, resource management plans, and more.Between 1994 and 1997, data collectors and fishery officers interviewed local fishers and industry representatives. The purpose of these interviews was primarily to gain information on local fishing activities and the location of fisheries' resources and their habitats. The data and information was vetted through a process of verification with scientists, fishers, locals, industry representatives, and government officials. Maps were then compiled for 14 commercially important fish species and made publicly available to consult. These include lobster, rock crab, scallop, snow crab, toad crab, herring, mackerel, American plaice, cod, witch flounder (grey sole), hake, halibut, winter flounder, and unspecified groundfish. This data resource also includes the other 27 species originally not included in the atlas.

Data layers show commercial fishery footprints for directed fisheries using bottom and pelagic longlines for groundfish and large pelagics respectively, and traps for hagfish, LFA 41 and Grey Zone lobster, snow crab, and other crab on the Scotian Shelf, the Bay of Fundy, and Georges Bank in NAFO Divisions 4VWX and Canadian portions of 5Y and 5Z. Bottom longline and trap fishery maps aggregate commercial logbook effort (bottom longline soak time and logbook entries) per 2-minute grid cell using 2002–2017 data. Pelagic longline maps aggregate speed-filtered vessel monitoring system (VMS) track lines as vessel minutes per km2 on a base-10 log scale using 2003–2018 data. The following data layers are included in the mapping service for use in marine spatial planning and ecological risk assessment: 1) multi-year and quarterly composite data layers for bottom longline and trap gear, and 2) multi-year and monthly composite data layers for pelagic longline gear. Additional details are available online: S. Butler, D. Ibarra and S. Coffen-Smout, 2019. Maritimes Region Longline and Trap Fisheries Footprint Mapping for Marine Spatial Planning and Risk Assessment. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 3293: v + 30 p. http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2019/mpo-dfo/Fs97-6-3293-eng.pdf

PURPOSE:This data relates to the Canadian Science Advice Secretariat (CSAS) Regional Science Advisory Process from the Limit Reference Point and Population Model Review of the Southern Gulf of Saint Lawrence Sea Scallop peer review meeting held on November 1-2, 2023. The SFAs 22 and 24 have been identified as the core scallop habitat within the sGSL for this process. Associated publications from this meeting will be posted on the Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Science Advisory Schedule as they become available. DESCRIPTION:Data on landings, fishing efforts, and catch per unit effort (CPUE) used in the stock assessment for southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (sGSL) sea scallop (_Placopecten magellanicus_) stock assessments and the limit reference point.The dataset contains corrected information from the following data sources:- DFO annual historic reports on landings and efforts- published documents about population assessments and surveys- logbooks, produced by DFO’s regional statistics- purchase slips, produced by DFO’s regional statistics- Catch per unit effort calculated by DFO's Science BranchPrior to 1947, data represents the combined landings that cannot be attributed to individual Scallop Fishing Areas (SFAs). USE LIMITATION:To ensure scientific integrity and appropriate use of the data, we would encourage you to contact the data custodian.

These data consist of the Recreational Shark Fishing Tournament landings database (1993-2022 inclusive) and the Canadian Dart tag database (2006 onwards; updated annually). Both were collected by the Maritimes Science Division of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The landings records include biological sampling from 4266 animals and the dart tag records include 4138 tagging and 97 recapture events to date. Potential users should consult Bowlby et al. (2022) for the description, management history, and technical details pertaining to these data. Information is focused on Blue Sharks because they were the primary species captured at recreational tournaments.Cite this data as: Bowlby, H., Joyce, W. Recreational Shark Fishing Tournament Landings Data and Canadian Dart Tag Database. Published January 2023 . Population Ecology Division, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth, N.S. https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/4309f1f7-6779-416d-9660-c02f0f99b482

These datasets show commercial fisheries catch weight landings of directed fisheries and bycatch from the Scotian Shelf, the Bay of Fundy, and Georges Bank from NAFO Divisions 4VWX and the Canadian portions of 5Y and 5Z. Atlantic Canadian inter-regional maps of four species (Atlantic Halibut, Bluefin Tuna, Redfish and Scallop) are also included from NAFO Divisions 4RST, 3KLMNOP, and 2GHJ. Five-year composite maps (2014–2018) that aggregate catches for each map series are publicly available. The maps aggregate catch weight (kg) per 10 km2 hexagon grid cell for selected species, species groupings and gear types to identify important fishing areas. These maps may be used for decision making in coastal and oceans management, including marine spatial planning, environmental emergency response operations and protocols, Marine Stewardship Council certification processes, marine protected area networks, and ecological risk assessment.These datasets have been filtered to comply with the Government of Canada's privacy policy. Privacy assessments were conducted to identify NAFO unit areas containing data with less than five vessel IDs, licence IDs or fisher IDs. If this threshold was not met, catch weight locations were withheld from these unit areas to protect the identity or activity of individual vessels or companies.Maps were created for the following species, species groupings and gear types:1. Groundfish (all species)2. Groundfish Bottom Trawl3. Groundfish Gillnet4. Groundfish Bottom Longline5. Groundfish (quarterly composites Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4)6. Atlantic Cod7. Atlantic Cod, Haddock and Pollock8. Flatfish9. Atlantic Halibut10. Greenland Halibut (Turbot)11. Hagfish12. Cusk13. Dogfish14. Redfish15. Red Hake16. Silver Hake17. White Hake18. Monkfish19. Sculpin20. Skate21. Wolffish22. Squid23. Herring24. Mackerel25. Large Pelagics26. Bluefin Tuna27. Other Tuna28. Swordfish29. Porbeagle, Mako and Blue Shark30. Snow Crab31. Other Crab32. Scallop33. Scallop (quarterly composites Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4)34. Offshore Clam35. Shrimp36. Offshore Lobster37. Disputed Zone Area 38B Lobster38. Whelk

From August 2nd to September 9th, 2013, Fisheries and Oceans Canada conducted a baseline survey of marine fishes and their habitats on the Canadian Beaufort Shelf and slope. Sampling was conducted from the F/V Frosti at 64 stations along ten transects. Standardized sampling was conducted on the transects at pre-determined depth stations (20-40, 75, 200, 350, 500, 750, and 1000 m) using a variety of sampling equipment including benthic fishing trawls, plankton nets, sediment cores, and CTD and water sample profiles. A specialized CTD probe (UCTD) was deployed at an additional 72 locations while the ship was underway.Presented here is the information on the sampling locations, and the sampling gear deployed at each station.

A Fisheries Sensitive Watershed (FSW) is a mapped area with specific management objectives intended to guide development activities which may adversely impact important fish values . FSWs within this set of data are currently in the review and consultation stage of the area designation process. As FSWs are designated they will be moved into the [Approved Fisheries Sensitive Watersheds](http://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/fisheries-sensitive-watersheds) dataset and thus often this dataset is empty.

In 2009, Fisheries and Oceans Canada published the Policy on Managing the Impacts of Fishing on Sensitive Benthic Areas. To support the implementation of this policy, a Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) process was initiated to: assess the distribution of fishing effort in Canada’s Atlantic and Eastern Arctic waters from 2005-2014, evaluate the overlap between fishing effort and Significant Benthic Areas (SiBAs), and identify areas of potential conservation concern. Although Research Document 2018/15 (Koen-Alonso et al. 2018), detailing this work, has not been updated since publication, the methodology outlined within it is still used to generate updated fishing effort layers as new data becomes available. This record illustrates cumulative fishing effort in Canada’s Atlantic and Eastern Arctic waters from 2005-2023, and is based on commercial logbook and vessel monitoring system (VMS) data. Fishing effort has been standardized into percentiles, whereby the top 20th percentile of intensity (cell values ≥20) represent cells containing the most intense fishing activities.

This project was completed by the Coastal Environmental Baseline Program (Coastal and Freshwater Ecology Section) in the Newfoundland and Labrador Science Branch of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). The nearshore fish and invertebrate community was sampled annually in Placentia Bay at 14 sites for 5 years (2018 – 2022). The objective of this program was to collect data on juvenile fish (specifically Atlantic cod) communities and habitats within Placentia Bay. The sites and timing (October) were selected based on historical sampling. There were several data types collected during each of these sampling trips. Boat-based beach seining was used to collect data on fish and invertebrate diversity, abundance, distribution, and size. Visual transects were used to identify vegetation and substrate (habitat) types and proportions at seine sites. CTD profiles (temperature, conductivity, depth, and salinity) were obtained using a castaway CTD. Finally, eDNA samples were collected at each site (2018-2021) to obtain complementary information on the presence of juvenile fish and other species present. This record contains the geographic locations of the 14 sites, and information on the timing and type of data collected at each site.

PURPOSE:From August 2nd to September 9th, 2013, Fisheries and Oceans Canada conducted a baseline survey of marine fishes and their habitats in the southern Canadian Beaufort Sea and Amundsen Gulf as part of the Beaufort Regional Environmental Assessment (BREA) called the Beaufort Sea Marine Fishes Project (BSMFP). Sampling was conducted from the F/V Frosti at 53 stations along 8 transects. Standardized sampling was conducted using benthic trawling nets. The BSMFP is the first research project to use a large research trawls to assess the biodiversity and abundance of offshore marine fishes in this area. In total, 48 species of fish were caught, one of which was a new occurrence in the Canadian Beaufort Sea, Lycodes lavalaei. DESCRIPTION:Basic biological data for all fish caught during the 2013 BSMFP expedition. Includes identification, weight, length (total, fork, and, standard), liver weight, gonad weight, sex and maturity level. PARAMETERS COLLECTED:familyspeciesweighttotal lengthfork lengthstandard lengthliver weightgonad weightsexmaturitySAMPLING METHODS:Various trawl types.