The dataset includes timeseries of horizontal current speed and direction, vertical current speed, water depth, and temperature at instrument depth from Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) moorings. Data were collected as part of a multiyear effort lead by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to support sustainable aquaculture regulation in the Coast of Bays, an area of the south coast of Newfoundland. This dataset is the third of a series aiming to provide an oceanographic knowledge baseline of the Coast of Bays, Newfoundland. It consists of 73 ADCP timeseries varying in length from about 26 days to 235 days collected between 2009 and 2014. Analyses from this dataset were presented during a Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) meeting which took place in St John’s in March 2015 (http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/schedule-horraire/2015/03_25-26b-eng.html) and from which a Science Advisory Report (http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/SAR-AS/2016/2016_039-eng.html), Proceedings (http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/Pro-Cr/2017/2017_043-eng.html) and several research documents were published.

This dataset was compiled as part of a multiyear effort lead by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to support sustainable aquaculture regulation in the Coast of Bays, an area of the south coast of Newfoundland. It is the first of a series aiming to provide an oceanographic knowledge baseline of the Coast of Bays.This dataset consists of GIS products and analyses summarized in a spreadsheet. The GIS data include vector shapefiles and raster TIFF images, providing information on the area of interest physical dimensions (e.g. bays area, volume, perimeter, length and width) and other physical characteristics (e.g. tidal volume and freshwater input).A full description of the data and of its use in the context of the motivating project can be found in http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/ResDocs-DocRech/2017/2017_076-eng.html. Analyses from this dataset were presented during a Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) meeting which took place in St John’s in March 2015 (http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/schedule-horraire/2015/03_25-26b-eng.html) and from which a Science Advisory Report (http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/SAR-AS/2016/2016_039-eng.html) and Proceedings (http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/Pro-Cr/2017/2017_043-eng.html) were published.

This dataset was compiled as part of a multiyear effort lead by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to support sustainable aquaculture regulation in the Coast of Bays, an area of the south coast of Newfoundland. It is the second of a series aiming to provide an oceanographic knowledge baseline of the Coast of Bays.This dataset includes temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen concentration profiles collected during CTD surveys, each survey containing a varying number of casts/profiles taken within the area of interest. In total, 760 profiles from 11 surveys, executed over 276 stations, were collected from June 2009 to November 2013. Data were processed and quality controlled using the instrumentation manufacturer guidelines, custom tools as well as visual inspection. Data are provided in tab-delimited text-based format compatible with most data processing language and tools (e.g. MS. Excel) as well as with the Ocean Data View software (https://odv.awi.de/) for rapid visualisation. A summary of the CTD profiles and stations surveyed is also provided as a comma separated values (CSV) file.A full description of the data and of its use in the context of the motivating project can be found in http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/ResDocs-DocRech/2017/2017_077-eng.html. Analyses from this dataset were presented during a Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) meeting which took place in St John’s in March 2015 (http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/schedule-horraire/2015/03_25-26b-eng.html) and from which a Science Advisory Report (http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/SAR-AS/2016/2016_039-eng.html) and Proceedings (http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/Pro-Cr/2017/2017_043-eng.html) were published.

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.

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.

Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) are found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. They are found in coastal waters of the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as well as those of the Baltic and North Seas. In Canada, they may be found off the coastal waters of British Columbia, Nunavut, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador.Population trends and abundance of harbour seals in British Columbia are assessed based on aerial surveys conducted during 1966-2019. Based on counts conducted in Index Areas distributed throughout the province, the trend observed in the Strait of Georgia appears to be generally indicative of harbour seal populations throughout British Columbia. Total abundance of harbour seals on the B.C. coast in 2008 was estimated to be on the order of about 105,000 (95% confidence interval of 90,900 to 118,900) seals. Total abundance was re-estimated in 2022 (estimate and CI pending completion of CSAS process). Historic reconstructions indicate the population was depleted by a period of commercial harvesting during 1879-1914, and subsequently maintained below natural levels by predator control programs until the early 1960s. Already depleted, the population could not sustain a second period of intense commercial harvesting during 1962-1968 and was further depleted, but now appears to have fully recovered.

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.

The objective of this project was to locate the mixing zones in the coastal environment on the north shore of the lower estuary, which are caused by the friction of the waters on the bottom and measure the effects of these mixing zones on the modification of the water bodies and the productivity potential of adjacent areas, using phytoplankton biomass and size structure as an indicator of productivity. Temperature and salinity profiles were measured using CTD and water sampling was done with a Niskin bottle to try to detect the signature of the mixture and to determine if nutrient salts and/or productivity are greater in adjacent areas.Sampling took place in 3 outings from 3 stations organized in a 100 NN transect which were carried out at the start of the season (June 30), mid-season (August 16) and end of the season (October 9). The transects were each composed of three stations ranging from 10 m depth near the coast to 50 and 75 m, depending on the transect, moving away from the coast. Samples were collected for nutrients and phytoplankton biomass (> 0.7 µm and > 5 µm) analysis at depths of 1, 10, 25 and 50 m. The optical transparency of water was also measured by Secchi disk. The first file provided “donnees_profils_data” is a summary of the CTD profils of every station. The second file “donnees_discretes_discret_data” contains the results of the water sample analysis. The file “Identification_station_identification” describe the repartition of consecutives among stations.This project was funded by DFO Coastal Environmental Baseline Program under Canada’s Oceans Protection Plan. This initiative aims to acquire environmental baseline data contributing to the characterization of important coastal areas and to support evidence-based assessments and management decisions for preserving marine ecosystems.

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.

The locations of coastal British Columbia boat launches. The Coastal BC datasets are circa 2004 and legacy in nature. Caution should be exercised when using this data, as it may not be accurate or complete. There are currently no plans to update.