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 American plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides) includes the metadata, sample weight, fish length, the sex and the number of specimen measured. This dataset covers the periods of 1989-2002, 2006-2008 and 2016-2018. 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.

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.

Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) occupy deep waters off Newfoundland and Labrador and are a commercially important species. The Groundfish Section, Fisheries and Oceans Canada – Newfoundland and Labrador Region implemented an acoustic tagging program to better understand the movement and habitat use for this species. This program began in 2021, and was further developed as a results of two DFO Competitive Science Research Fund project between 2022-2026.Fish were caught via trawl or longline, VEMCO acoustic transmitters surgically implanted, and released at site of capture. Detections occurred from acoustic receivers deployed by the Groundfish section and/or from receiver arrays associated with the Oceans Tracking Network (e.g. Northern Cod Acoustic Telemetry Array [NCAT]). Raw detection data are downloaded from receivers and sent to the Ocean Tracking Network for formatting and archiving. Data provided here summarize reported detections from 2021-2024 as part of a master’s project at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Release locations, number and location of detections, defined movement class, and detection duration are summarized by individual. Location information includes the position of the receiver the fish was detected at, and the North Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) Divisions where fish were detected in.

A research survey of scallops (mainly sea scallop Placopecten magellanicus, but also Icelandic Scallop Chlamys islandica) using a dredge was carried out by DFO (Fisheries and Oceans Canada) every 1 or 2 years since 1992 in the Magdalen Islands (fishing area 20). The main objective of this research survey was to assess Sea Scallop stocks. Another objective was to document taxa associated with scallop habitat according to a fixed random sampling plan. Occurrences for the year 2021 and 2022 are presented by species (or taxon) by station. Starting in 2021, catches were weighed, and specimens photographed, with information available upon request. The taxonomic and geographical validity of the data was checked and the World Register of Marine Species served as the taxonomic authority for naming all taxa recorded during the survey. Epibenthic invertebrates (mainly molluscs, echinoderms and crustaceans) as well as demersal fish were identified from the dredge catches. The historical dataset is available at the following link : https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/71732ad5-5c70-4dbf-916d-a94e1380c53bThe study area is located south of the Magdalen Islands and the sampling of scallop beds is carried out at depths of generally around 25 to 35 m. A random selection of sampling stations is carried out from a fixed station grid. Sampling is done along transects at these randomly drawn stations in the study area. Sampling is done with a lined Digby scallop dredge (20 mm mesh) over approximately 500 m along the seabed. The four baskets of the dredge are examined for all scallops, and starting in 2022, also for all fishes. One basket (first on the starboard side) is sorted and examined for associated species. Most specimens are counted by taxa. Those that are too small and numerous, or colonial, are noted for presence or relative abundance. Special cases are occasionally conserved for taxonomic analysis, for example, ascidians (to monitor for invasive species) and sponges (to document new species). The availability of photos and some conserved specimens enables future review. Changes are anticipated in the identifications, notably for Bryozoan, Hydrozoa, and Porifera, that are currently the focus of research efforts.

The porbeagle shark (Lamna nasus), is a species found in Atlantic Canadian waters which is encountered in commercial and recreational fisheries. Pop-up Satellite Archival Tags (PSAT) from Wildlife Computers were applied to porbeagle sharks from 2005 to 2021 to collect data on depth (pressure), temperature and ambient light level (for position estimation). Deployments were conducted in Canada and the Faroe Islands on commercial, recreational and scientific charters, typically in summer and fall but some over winter when the porbeagle commercial fishery was active in Canada. A variety of tag models were deployed: PAT 4 (n=1), Mk10 (N=41), and MiniPAT (N=15) and 51 of 57 tags reported. One individual shark was recaptured and the physical tag was returned. The porbeagle sharks tagged ranged in size from 76 cm to 249 cm Fork Length (curved); 42 were female, 15 were male. Time at liberty ranged from 4 – 356 days and 14 tags remained on for the programmed duration. Raw data transmitted from the PSAT’s after release was processed through Wildlife Computers software (GPE3) to get summary files, assuming a maximum swimming speed of 2m/s, NOAA OI SST V2 High Resolution data set for SST reference and ETOPO1-Bedrock dataset for bathymetry reference. The maximum likelihood position estimates are available in .csv and .kmz format and depth and temperature profiles are also in .csv format. Other tag outputs as well as metadata from the deployments can be obtained upon request from: warren.joyce@dfo-mpo.gc.ca or heather.bowlby@dfo-mpo.gc.ca.

These structure, isopach and zero edge files are part of a series of stratigraphic framework maps for the Saskatchewan Phanerozoic Fluids and Petroleum Systems (SPFPS) project.The series of stratigraphic framework maps for the Saskatchewan Phanerozoic Fluids and Petroleum Systems (SPFPS) project have been produced using 2 km equi-spaced modified grids generated from Golden Software’s Surfer 9 kriging algorithm. The dataset used to produce each of the maps in this series was created using data from several projects completed by the Ministry (Christopher, 2003; Saskatchewan Industry and Resources et al., 2004; Kreis et al., 2004; Marsh and Heinemann, 2006; Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy and Resources et al., 2007; Heinemann and Marsh, 2009); these data were validated and edited as required to facilitate correlations between the various regional projects. In addition, to minimize edge effects during contouring, the senior author also generated stratigraphic data from wells in adjacent jurisdictions.

These structure, isopach and zero edge files are part of a series of stratigraphic framework maps for the Saskatchewan Phanerozoic Fluids and Petroleum Systems (SPFPS) project.The series of stratigraphic framework maps for the Saskatchewan Phanerozoic Fluids and Petroleum Systems (SPFPS) project have been produced using 2 km equi-spaced modified grids generated from Golden Software’s Surfer 9 kriging algorithm. The dataset used to produce each of the maps in this series was created using data from several projects completed by the Ministry (Christopher, 2003; Saskatchewan Industry and Resources et al., 2004; Kreis et al., 2004; Marsh and Heinemann, 2006; Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy and Resources et al., 2007; Heinemann and Marsh, 2009); these data were validated and edited as required to facilitate correlations between the various regional projects. In addition, to minimize edge effects during contouring, the senior author also generated stratigraphic data from wells in adjacent jurisdictions.

Sponge reefs are constructed by hexactinellid (glass) sponges of the Order Hexactinosida. The sponges trap fine sediments, and over centuries of sponge growth and sediment trapping, form large bioherms or reef mounds. Glass sponge reefs are unique habitats found along the Pacific coast of Canada and the United States and they have significant historic, ecological, and economic value. They link benthic and pelagic environments by playing important roles in filtration and carbon and nitrogen processing, and acting as silica sinks. They also form habitat for diverse communities of invertebrates and fish, including those of economic importance. Thus, accurate and up-to-date information on the location and spatial extent of sponge reefs is important to the management and conservation of many of Canada’s Pacific marine species. We generated a map of known sponge reefs, derived from two source shape files: 1) Sponge_Reef_West_Coast, mapped by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), 2) Howesound_Nine_reef_polygons and 3) HoweSound_Five_reef_polygons, which were mapped by DFO and NRCan. The resultant polygon shapefile is published on the GIS hub as a file geodatabase feature class.

Historical finds of Coleophora serratella

A research survey of scallops (mainly sea scallop Placopecten magellanicus, but also Icelandic Scallop Chlamys islandica) using a dredge was carried out by DFO (Fisheries and Oceans Canada) every 1 or 2 years since 1992 in the Magdalen Islands (fishing area 20). The main objective of this research survey was to assess Sea Scallop stocks. Another objective was to document taxa associated with scallop habitat according to a fixed random sampling plan. Occurrences by species (or taxon) are presented by station. The taxonomic and geographical validity of the data was checked and the World Register of Marine Species served as the taxonomic authority for naming all taxa recorded during the survey. Epibenthic invertebrates (mainly molluscs, echinoderms and crustaceans) as well as demersal fish were identified from the dredge catches. The current data starting in 2021 are available at the following link : https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/6529a4b0-f863-4568-ac71-1fa26cf68679The study area is located south of the Magdalen Islands and the sampling of scallop beds is carried out at depths of 10 to 38 m, generally around 25 to 35 m. A random selection of sampling stations is carried out from a fixed station grid. Sampling is done along transects at these randomly drawn stations in the study area. Sampling is done with a lined Digby scallop dredge (20 mm mesh) over approximately 500 m along the seabed. The four baskets of the dredge are examined for all scallops. Next, a basket (the first on the starboard side) is sorted and examined for associated species. Most specimens are counted by taxon. The presence or relative abundance of undersized and numerous, or colonial, organisms is noted. Special cases are sometimes retained for taxonomic analysis, for example, ascidians (to monitor invasive species) and sponges (to document new species).