GIS compilation of data used to perform the stacked cumulative chance of success (resource potential map) in Open file 8556. Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has been tasked, under the Marine Conservation Targets (MCT) initiative announced in Budget 2016, with evaluating the petroleum resource potential for areas identified for possible protection as part of the Government of Canada's commitment to conserve 10% of its marine areas by 2020. As part of this initiative, NRCan's Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) conducted a broad regional study of the petroleum potential over the majority of the Magdalen Basin, which is the principal geological basin in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. The GSC resource assessment is visually represented by a qualitative petroleum potential map. Disclaimer: A simplified colored version of the map is displayed on the Web Mapping Service (WMS). The correct version is available for download through the Federal Geospatial Platform (FGP) and GEOSCAN.

GIS compilation of data used to perform the stacked cumulative chance of success (resource potential map) in Open file 9163. Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has been tasked, under the Marine Conservation Targets (MCT) initiative announced in Budget 2016, with evaluating the petroleum resource potential for areas identified for possible protection as part of the Government of Canada's commitment to conserve 10% of its marine areas by 2020. As part of this initiative, NRCan's Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) conducted a broad regional study of the petroleum potential over the majority of the Magdalen Basin, which is the principal geological basin in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. The GSC resource assessment is visually represented by a qualitative petroleum potential map. Disclaimer: A simplified colored version of the map is displayed on the Web Mapping Service (WMS). The correct version is available for download through the Federal Geospatial Platform (FGP) and GEOSCAN.

To assess the current distribution of kelp beds and other macroalgae in Nova Scotia and Southwest New Brunswick, subtidal drop camera surveys were performed from 2022-2023 at 140 sites. For each site, a GoPro HERO 10 camera was towed along a deep (7-12m) and shallow (3-5m) depth contour until 20 images were acquired per depth. Where possible, species were identified from photos, with particular care given to kelps (defined here as orders Laminariales and Tilopteridales) and fucoids (order Fucales). Crust-forming algae was not counted. Percent cover was calculated using a 10x10 point grid overlaid on each image and recording the dominant cover type at each point. The depth (in meters) of each photo after correcting for tide height ranged from ~0.5m to ~12m. Depths were corrected to chart datum (lowest astronomical tide) using tide predictions from the nearest tide station, taken from tides.gc.ca. Sampling was performed between July and October. Cite this data as: Krumhansl K, Brooks C, Lowen B, DiBacco C, (2025). Camera Surveys of the Subtidal Flora of Nova Scotia and Southwest New Brunswick 2022-2023. Version 1.7. Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Samplingevent dataset. https://ipt.iobis.org/obiscanada/resource?r=camera_surveys_of_the_subtidal_flora_of_nova_scotia_2022-2023&v=1.7For additional information please see:Krumhansl K.A., Brooks C.M., Lowen B., O’Brien J., Wong M., DiBacco C. Loss, resilience and recovery of kelp forests in a region of rapid ocean warming. Annals of Botany 2024 Mar 8; 133(1):73-92. Brooks C.M., Krumhansl K.A. 2023. First record of the Asian Antithamnion sparsum Tokida, 1932 (Ceramiales, Rhodophyta) in Nova Scotia, Canada. BioInvasions Records 12(3):745-725.

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

Appropriately responding to a marine pollution event, especially hydrocarbon spills, often requires detailed knowledge of local habitat and environmental features. Access to high resolution habitat profiles can support effective spill response plans, informing discussions on protection priorities or expediated remediation. However, marine habitat composition data for a given area is often lacking due to the high cost and effort of conducting such surveys across the vast shorelines of Canada. The purpose of this study was to develop methodologies for conducting rapid and affordable habitat compositions in the marine environment via drone aerial photography; an emerging technology for conducting high resolution surveys. We used the Musquash Marine Protected Area (MPA; Musquash, NB, Canada) as a model system as it contains a diverse range of habitat types, is a region of conservation concern in Atlantic Canada, and is in close proximity to oil and gas handling facilities and vessel traffic. The MPA consists of a tidal river that outflows into the Bay of Fundy. Using Geographic Information System (GIS) software, we subdivided the MPA into several transects (N =61) that were used to generate flight plans for a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS; DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise, DJI ). The RPAS was flown (6 m s-1) at an altitude of 100m (Above ground level) taking images with side (70%) and front (80%) overlap. Resulting images were then compiled as an orthomosaic map using Pix4Dmatic software. These data will be used to inform marine spill response planning in the region, to support marine planning and conservation, and Marine Protected Area (MPA) monitoring efforts as well as develop further methodological approaches for conducting RPAS-based habitat surveys in other coastal systems within Atlantic Canada. Cite this data as: Lawrence MJ, Coates PJ, Matheson K, Hamer A. Characterisation of intertidal habitat types in the Musquash Marine Protected Area using aerial drone photography. Published November 2025. Coastal Ecosystems Science Division, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, St. Andrews, N.B.

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

The Marine Biodiversity Observation Network Pole to Pole (MBON P2P) effort seeks to develop a framework for the collection, use and sharing of marine biodiversity data in a coordinated, standardized manner leveraging on existing infrastructure managed by the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS; IOC-UNESCO), the GEO Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON), and the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS). The MBON Pole to Pole aims to become a key resource for decision-making and management of living resource across countries in the Americas for reporting requirements under the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), Aichi Targets of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).This collection corresponds to the species registered on rocky shores of the Musquash Harbour, Passamaquoddy Bay and Mispec Bay, New Brunswick, Canada, using the MBON P2P sampling protocol for rocky shores, with funding from the Government of Canada's Coastal Environmental Baseline Program.Citation: Reinhart B, Cooper A, Nason R, Jonah L (2025). MBON POLE TO POLE: ROCKY SHORE BIODIVERSITY OF MUSQUASH HARBOUR, PASSAMAQUODDY BAY AND MISPEC BAY. Version 1.7. Caribbean OBIS Node. Samplingevent dataset. https://ipt.iobis.org/mbon/resource?r=rockyshoresbayoffundynb&v=1.7

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.

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

We evaluated an autonomous environmental DNA sampler produced by Dartmouth Ocean Technologies Inc (Dartmouth, Canada) compared to time-at-sample filtration in the laboratory to determine the performance of moored samplers for monitoring in the marine world. We deployed three autonomous samplers from DOT in the Bedford Basin (Canada) over a nine-week period in summer/fall 2023. The samplers filtered seawater in situ at programmed interviews over this time period, and we collected contemporaneous samples with a standard vacuum pump during each sampling period. Both eDNA sample types captured similar fish diversity, including typical diversity for the Northwest Atlantic. The invertebrate community detected using the COI marker was different between each sample type, likely due to differences in filter pore size. We found biofouling on the moored samplers was minimal over the study period, even in a high-traffic area such as the Bedford Basin, likely due to the relatively short experimental period, and copper screening covering in the inlet and outlet valves of the instruments. Overall, our results show promise to deploy autonomous eDNA samplers in marine conservation areas to contribute to monitoring in the temperate ocean, but further testing over longer periods of time is needed to determine if DNA remains well-preserved in the autonomous samplers at ambient ocean temperatures.Cite this data as: Jeffery, N.W., Van Wyngaarden, M., and Stanley, R.R.E. Evaluating an Autonomous eDNA Sampler for Marine Environmental Monitoring: Short- and Long-Term Applications. Published: December 2024. Coastal Ecosystems Science Division, Maritimes Region, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth NS.