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.

This dataset provides 1/36-degree monthly mean ocean current climatology (October - March) in the Northeast Pacific. The climatological fields are derived from hourly ocean currents for the perid from 1993 to 2020, simulated using a high-resolution Northeast Pacific Ocean Model (NEPOM).

Pacific Herring spawn index data for British Columbia from 1951 to present. Note that the spawn index is a relative index of spawning biomass. In addition, “NA" indicates that data are unavailable because they are either incomplete or withheld; contact the custodian for more information. For the "Region" column specifically, "NA" indicates that the location is outside stock assessment region boundaries. There are a few caveats to consider when interpreting Pacific Herring spawn index data, which are discussed in the technical report (see supporting documents).

The shallow, coastal regions of the world’s oceans are highly productive ecosystems providing important habitat for commercial, forage, endangered, and iconic species. Given the diversity of ecosystem services produced or supported by this ecosystem, a better understanding of its structure and function is central to developing an ecosystem-based approach to management. However this region termed the ‘white strip’ by marine geologists because of the general lack of high-resolution bathymetric data - is dynamic, highly variable, and difficult to access making data collection challenging and expensive. Since substrate is a key indicator of habitat in this important ecosystem, we created a continuous substrate map of Bottom Patches (BoPs) from the best available bottom type data using an approach that is simple, quantitative, and transparent making it amenable to iterative improvement as data quality and availability improve. To provide subsequent analyses (such as habitat models) with some confidence in the defined bottom type values, we developed a corresponding confidence surface based on the agreement of, and distance between observations. Such data are critical to assessments of species distributions and anthropogenic risk. Bottom patches (BoPs) have been created to represent bottom type for the entire Pacific Canadian coast from the high high water line to a depth of 50 metres (m). As a polygon representation, the BoPs describe patches of similar substrate prescribed by depth classes and the available field observations. In the areas where no observations are available, predicted bottom type values are used. The approach is described in Gregr et al. (2013), as a spatial framework for representing nearshore ecosystems. Accuracy of the bottom type depends on a multitude of factors but primarily the reliability and density of the bottom type observations. The horizontal accuracy of these data likely ranges from metres to 10s of metres because of the source data or data processing required. Areas with a higher data density, where the data show strong coherence, are understood to have higher accuracy. The BoPs use depth ribbons (polygons describing bathymetric ecozones) as an input. Depth ribbons for Pacific Canada were created from a high resolution (20 x 20 m2) bathymetry. Given the resolution of these data, processing was facilitated by dividing the Pacific Coast into 5 regions.The West Coast of Vancouver Island, extending from Cape Sutil in the North past Port San Juan to the South, includes a total of 110,313 BoP polygons. Bottom Patches for Queen Charlotte Strait and Strait of Georgia regions were combined for a total of 235,754 BoP polygons. The North Central Coast region, extending from the Alaskan border in the North to Cape Caution in the South, includes a total of 431,639 BoP polygons. The Haida Gwaii region includes a total of 86,825 BoP polygons.These data are intended for scientific research only. The developers (Fisheries and Oceans Canada, SciTech Environmental Consulting) are not responsible for damages resulting from any omissions or errors that may be contained in this dataset and expressly disclaims any warranty of fitness for any particular purpose. Developers shall not be liable for any losses, financial or otherwise, due to the use of these data. The user assumes the entire risk as to the suitability, results and performance of the dataset for their proposed use. Please credit SciTech and Fisheries and Oceans Canada as the source of the data in any maps, reports, or articles that are printed or published on paper or the Internet.

Description:Seasonal sigma-t climatology of the Northeast Pacific Ocean was computed from historical observations including all available conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD), bottle, expendable bathy-thermograph (XBT), and Argo data in NOAA (http://www.argo.ucsd.edu/), Marine Environmental Data Service (MEDS), and Institute of Ocean Sciences archives over 1980 to 2010 period.Methods:Calculations, including smooth and interpolation, were carried out in sixty-five subregions and up to fifty-two vertical levels from surface to 5000m. Seasonal averages were computed as the median of yearly seasonal values. Spring months were defined as April to June, summer months were defined as July to September, fall months were defined as October to December, and winter months were defined as January to March. The data available here contain raster layers of seasonal sigma-t climatology for the Canadian Pacific Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), a subset of seasonal climatology of the Northeast Pacific Ocean, in high spatial resolution of 1/300 degree.References:Foreman, M. G. G., W. R. Crawford, J. Y. Cherniawsky, and J. Galbraith (2008). Dynamic ocean topography for the northeast Pacific and its continental margins, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L22606, doi: 10.1029/2008GL035152Data Sources:NOAA, MEDS and IOS observational dataUncertainties:Uncertainties are introduced when quality controlled observational data are spatially interpolated to varying distances from the observation point. Climatological averages are calculated from these interpolated values.

This dataset contains the modelled and observed data used in the publication "Fjord circulation permits persistent subsurface water mass in a long, deep mid-latitude inlet" by Laura Bianucci et al., DFO Ocean Sciences Division, Pacific Region (published in the journal Ocean Science in 2024). An application of the Finite Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM v4.1) was run from May 24 to June 27, 2019 in the Discovery Islands region of British Columbia, Canada. Observed temperature and salinity profiles available in this area during this time period are included in the dataset, along with the modelled values at the same times and locations.

Seamounts have been identified as Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) due to their unique oceanography and ecology; they frequently serve as sites for fisheries and as habitat for a number of species of conservation concern. A mix of isolated seamounts and seamount complexes are distributed throughout Canada’s Pacific offshore waters, although only a subset of these are named. We used several pre-existing spatial databases and predictive models to map all named seamounts within Canada’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), all named seamounts fished by Canada in international waters, and any predicted (modelled) unnamed seamounts in the EEZ. These data are intended to inform marine planning initiatives in BC by providing collaborative, peer-reviewed scientific data at scales relevant to a BC coast-wide analysis.

This layer details Important Areas (IAs) relevant to important geographic features in the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA). This data was mapped to inform the selection of marine Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSA). Experts have indicated that these areas are relevant based upon their high ranking in one or more of three criteria (Uniqueness, Aggregation, and Fitness Consequences). The distribution of IAs within ecoregions is used in the designation of EBSAs.Canada’s Oceans Act provides the legislative framework for an integrated ecosystem approach to management in Canadian oceans, particularly in areas considered ecologically or biologically significant. DFO has developed general guidance for the identification of ecologically or biologically significant areas. The criteria for defining such areas include uniqueness, aggregation, fitness consequences, resilience, and naturalness. This science advisory process identifies proposed EBSAs in Canadian Pacific marine waters, specifically in the Strait of Georgia (SOG), along the west coast of Vancouver Island (WCVI, southern shelf ecoregion), and in the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA, northern shelf ecoregion).Initial assessment of IA's in PNCIMA was carried out in September 2004 to March 2005 with spatial data collection coordinated by Cathryn Clarke. Subsequent efforts in WCVI and SOG were conducted in 2009, and may have used different scientific advisors, temporal extents, data, and assessment methods. WCVI and SOG IA assessment in some cases revisits data collected for PNCIMA, but should be treated as a separate effort.Other datasets in this series detail IAs for birds, cetaceans, coral and sponges, fish, invertebrates, and other vertebrates.Though data collection is considered complete, the emergence of significant new data may merit revisiting of IA's on a case by case basis.

This layer details Important Areas (IAs) relevant to key vertebrate species other than fish and cetaceans in the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA). This data was mapped to inform the selection of marine Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSA). Experts have indicated that these areas are relevant based upon their high ranking in one or more of three criteria (Uniqueness, Aggregation, and Fitness Consequences). The distribution of IAs within ecoregions is used in the designation of EBSAs.Canada’s Oceans Act provides the legislative framework for an integrated ecosystem approach to management in Canadian oceans, particularly in areas considered ecologically or biologically significant. DFO has developed general guidance for the identification of ecologically or biologically significant areas. The criteria for defining such areas include uniqueness, aggregation, fitness consequences, resilience, and naturalness. This science advisory process identifies proposed EBSAs in Canadian Pacific marine waters, specifically in the Strait of Georgia (SOG), along the west coast of Vancouver Island (WCVI, southern shelf ecoregion), and in the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA, northern shelf ecoregion).Initial assessment of IAs in PNCIMA was carried out in September 2004 to March 2005 with spatial data collection coordinated by Cathryn Clarke. Subsequent efforts in WCVI and SOG were conducted in 2009, and may have used different scientific advisors, temporal extents, data, and assessment methods. WCVI and SOG IA assessment in some cases revisits data collected for PNCIMA, but should be treated as a separate effort.Other datasets in this series detail IAs for birds, cetaceans, coral and sponges, fish, geographic features, and invertebrates.Though data collection is considered complete, the emergence of significant new data may merit revisiting of IAs on a case by case basis.

This layer details Important Areas (IAs) relevant to coral, sponge, and reef-building species in the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA). This data was mapped to inform the selection of marine Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSA). Experts have indicated that these areas are relevant based upon their high ranking in one or more of three criteria (Uniqueness, Aggregation, and Fitness Consequences). The distribution of IAs within ecoregions is used in the designation of EBSAs.Canada’s Oceans Act provides the legislative framework for an integrated ecosystem approach to management in Canadian oceans, particularly in areas considered ecologically or biologically significant. DFO has developed general guidance for the identification of ecologically or biologically significant areas. The criteria for defining such areas include uniqueness, aggregation, fitness consequences, resilience, and naturalness. This science advisory process identifies proposed EBSAs in Canadian Pacific marine waters, specifically in the Strait of Georgia (SOG), along the west coast of Vancouver Island (WCVI, southern shelf ecoregion), and in the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA, northern shelf ecoregion).Initial assessment of IAs in PNCIMA was carried out in September 2004 to March 2005 with spatial data collection coordinated by Cathryn Clarke. Subsequent efforts in WCVI and SOG were conducted in 2009, and may have used different scientific advisors, temporal extents, data, and assessment methods. WCVI and SOG IA assessment in some cases revisits data collected for PNCIMA, but should be treated as a separate effort.Other datasets in this series detail IAs for birds, cetaceans, fish, geographic features, invertebrates, and other vertebrates.Though data collection is considered complete, the emergence of significant new data may merit revisiting of IAs on a case by case basis.