Launched in 2017, the Cumulative Effects of Marine Shipping (CEMS) initiative is part of Canada’s $1.5 billion Oceans Protection Plan, which is providing economic opportunities to Canadians today, while protecting our coasts and waterways for future generations. The Cumulative Effects of Marine Shipping initiative is another way that the Government of Canada is protecting our coasts and waterways.https://tc.canada.ca/en/marine-transportation/marine-pollution-environmental-response/cumulative-effects-marine-shippingAs part of this initiative, Transport Canada is working with Indigenous partners and stakeholders in six pilot areas across Canada. Together, we are trying to understand the effects of marine shipping in various coastal areas. These pilot areas include:- North Coast British Columbia- South Coast British Columbia- St. Lawrence and Saguenay Rivers, Quebec- Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia- Placentia Bay, Newfoundland- Cambridge Bay, Nunavut

Transportation networks (transportation)The means and aids for conveying people and goods. For example, resources describing roads, airports and airstrips, shipping routes, tunnels, nautical charts, vehicle or vessel location, aeronautical charts, and railways.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Maritime Science Branch has collected grain size data from sediment and water column samples using bottle samples, sediment cores, and sediment grabs as part of numerous research projects not only in the Atlantic provinces, but also worldwide. The data collected by DFO focuses on the fine grained (<1mm) particles as these are both a source of food and means of contaminant transport. Grain size data are used to study the fate and distribution of complimentary chemistries like heavy metals, pesticides, hydrocarbons, aquaculture waste as well as a variety of physical processes such as the resuspension and transport of sediment.

Projects submitted to Transport Canada’s Navigation Protection Program. Please note that where appropriate, the content is displayed in the language of the original submission and has not been altered.

The Automatic Identification System (AIS) is a global, satellite-based and terrestrial-based ship tracking system that uses shipborne equipment to remotely track vessel identification and positional information and is typically required on vessels of 300 gross tonnage or more on an international voyage, of 500 gross tonnage or more not on an international voyage, and passenger ships of all sizes. AIS tracking technologies are primarily used in support of real-time maritime domain awareness and for maritime security and safety of life at sea. This report describes a geographic information system (GIS) analysis of 2019 AIS data to produce yearly and monthly vessel density maps of all vessel classes combined and yearly density maps of each vessel class. The year 2019 was selected to portray shipping densities in a pre-COVID 19 pandemic depiction of the maritime transport sector in the Northwest Atlantic. Vessel density map applications include use in spatial analysis and decision support for marine spatial planning.

The transport features of the CanVec series are derived from the National Road Network (NRN) and the National Railway Network (NRWN). The dataset describes roads, trails, bridges, railroads and their related information. The transport features include nautical facilities, track segments, track junctions, railway stations, track crossings, track marker posts, track structures, rail ferry segments, road segments, road ferry segments, road junctions, blocked passages, toll points, aerial cableway features, footbridges, trails, navigational aids, marinas and runways.The CanVec multiscale series is available as prepackaged downloadable files and by user-defined extent via a Geospatial data extraction tool.Related Products (Open Maps Links):[Topographic Data of Canada - CanVec Series](https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/8ba2aa2a-7bb9-4448-b4d7-f164409fe056)

The Automatic Identification System (AIS) is a global, satellite-based and terrestrial-based ship tracking system that uses shipborne equipment to remotely track vessel identification and positional information and is typically required on vessels of 300 gross tonnage or more on an international voyage, of 500 gross tonnage or more not on an international voyage, and passenger ships of all sizes. AIS tracking technologies are primarily used in support of real-time maritime domain awareness and for maritime security and safety of life at sea. This report describes a geographic information system (GIS) analysis of 2019 AIS data to produce yearly and monthly vessel density maps of all vessel classes combined and yearly density maps of each vessel class. The year 2019 was selected to portray shipping densities in a pre-COVID 19 pandemic depiction of the maritime transport sector in the Northwest Atlantic. Vessel density map applications include use in spatial analysis and decision support for marine spatial planning. In 2023 the process was applied to the years 2013 through to 2022 and were made available using the same processes that were applied to the original 2019 datasets.

Macroalgae dominated areas with a vegetated cover above 25%, located in the coastal zone of the Estuary and the Gulf of St. Lawrence (Quebec)This dataset was designed for Environment and Climate Change Canada's (ECCC) National Environmental Emergencies Center (NEEC) for oil spill preparedness and response. The polygons of this layer were selected from the surface geodatabase of coastal ecosystems from the UQAR-MPO project Mapping coastal ecosystems of the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence. Are represented in this dataset exclusively the polygons whose plant dominance corresponds to a class of macroalgae and presenting a semi-vegetated (25-75%) or vegetated (75-100%) cover. The study area includes all of the estuarine and maritime coasts of Quebec, with the exception of certain sectors, including most of the Lower North Shore and Anticosti Island, with the exception of villages of Kegaska, la Romaine, Chevery, Blanc-Sablon and Port-Menier. Some islands off the estuary and gulf coasts are part of the region covered, such as Île d'Orléans, Isle-aux-Coudres, Île Verte and Île Bonaventure.The mapping of coastal ecosystems was carried out jointly by the Laboratory for Dynamics and Integrated Coastal Zone Management (LDGIZC) of the University of Quebec at Rimouski as part of the Coastal Resilience Project (https: //ldgizc.uqar.ca/Web/projets/projet-resilience-cotiere) funded by the MELCC; and by the Fisheries and Oceans Canada team, as part of its Integrated marine response planning (IMRP) component of the Oceans Protection Plan (OPP),with the objective of updating the Marine Oil Spill Preparedness and Response Regime of Canada. The master geodatabase of coastal ecosystems is hosted and distributed by UQAR on their SIGEC-Web mapping platform: https://ldgizc.uqar.ca/Web/sigecwebThe macroalgae characterization was mainly carried out from the photo-interpretation of RGBI aerial photos acquired by the DFO (2015-2022) and oblique helicopter photos acquired by UQAR in 2017. Data from 3155 sampling stations, conducted aboard small boats during DFO field campaigns (2017-2023) were used to detail the nature of algal communities and validate the photo-interpretation.Credits © UQAR-MPO (2025, Laboratoire de dynamique et de gestion intégrée des zones côtières, Pêches et Océans Canada)RéférenceProvencher-Nolet, L., Paquette, L., Pitre, L.D., Grégoire, B. and Desjardins, C. 2024. Cartographie des macrophytes estuariens et marins du Québec. Rapp. Tech. Can. Sci. halieut. Aquat. 0000 : v + 99 p.Grégoire, B., Pitre, L.D., Provencher-Nolet, L., Paquette, L. and Desjardins, C. 2024. Distribution d’organismes marins de la zone côtière peu profonde du Québec recensés par imagerie sous-marine de 2017 à 2021. Rapp. tech. can. sci. halieut. aquat. 0000 : v + 78 p.Grégoire, B. 2022. Biodiversité du relevé côtier Planification pour une intervention environnementale intégrée dans l’estuaire et le golfe du Saint-Laurent (2017–2021). Observatoire global du Saint-Laurent. [Jeu de données]Jobin, A., Marquis, G., Provencher-Nolet, L., Gabaj Castrillo. M. J., Trubiano C., Drouet, M., Eustache-Létourneau, D., Drejza, S. Fraser, C. Marie, G. et P. Bernatchez (2021) Cartographie des écosystèmes côtiers du Québec maritime — Rapport méthodologique. Chaire de recherche en géoscience côtière, Laboratoire de dynamique et de gestion intégrée des zones côtières, Université du Québec à Rimouski. Rapport remis au ministère de l’Environnement et de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, septembre 2021, 98 p.

The Automatic Identification System (AIS) is a global, satellite-based and terrestrial-based ship tracking system that uses shipborne equipment to remotely track vessel identification and positional information and is typically required on vessels of 300 gross tonnage or more on an international voyage, of 500 gross tonnage or more not on an international voyage, and passenger ships of all sizes. AIS tracking technologies are primarily used in support of real-time maritime domain awareness and for maritime security and safety of life at sea. This report describes a geographic information system (GIS) analysis of 2019 AIS data to produce yearly and monthly vessel density maps of all vessel classes combined and yearly density maps of each vessel class. The year 2019 was selected to portray shipping densities in a pre-COVID 19 pandemic depiction of the maritime transport sector in the Northwest Atlantic. Vessel density map applications include use in spatial analysis and decision support for marine spatial planning.In 2023 the process was applied to the years 2013 through to 2022 and were made available using the same processes that were applied to the original 2019 datasets. Subsequent years will be processed and added to this entry as an ongoing series.

The Automatic Identification System (AIS) is a global, satellite-based and terrestrial-based ship tracking system that uses shipborne equipment to remotely track vessel identification and positional information and is typically required on vessels of 300 gross tonnage or more on an international voyage, of 500 gross tonnage or more not on an international voyage, and passenger ships of all sizes. AIS tracking technologies are primarily used in support of real-time maritime domain awareness and for maritime security and safety of life at sea. This report describes a geographic information system (GIS) analysis of 2019 AIS data to produce yearly and monthly vessel density maps of all vessel classes combined and yearly density maps of each vessel class. The year 2019 was selected to portray shipping densities in a pre-COVID 19 pandemic depiction of the maritime transport sector in the Northwest Atlantic. Vessel density map applications include use in spatial analysis and decision support for marine spatial planning. In 2023 the process was applied to the years 2013 through to 2022 and were made available using the same processes that were applied to the original 2019 datasets.