Human activities occurring on land can impact marine coastal ecosystems. Baseline information on the locations and intensity of these activities are critical components of any impact assessment or spatial planning approach seeking to mitigate stress and protect or restore coastal ecosystems. As part of a wider project, land use maps were created for 109 coastal watersheds draining into the Scotian Shelf Bioregion – a biophysical subdivision of Canada’s marine waters in the Maritimes Region of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Information was compiled from various national and provincial publicly available spatial data sources. Each map provides basic statistics on areal values of different land cover types (such as forested areas, pervious or impervious surfaces, agricultural areas, peatlands, parks and protected areas, wetlands and freshwater bodies), human population density, building locations, and locations of major riverine pour points. This project was funded by Fisheries and Oceans Canada through a Strategic Program for Ecosystem-based Research and Advice (SPERA) grant. Source Guijarro-Sabaniel, J., Kelly, N.E. 2022. Land Use Atlas for Coastal Watersheds in the Maritimes Region. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 3494: viii + 135 p. Associated publication Kelly, N.E., Guijarro-Sabaniel, J. and Zimmerman, R., 2021. Anthropogenic nitrogen loading and risk of eutrophication in the coastal zone of Atlantic Canada. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 263, p.107630. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2021.107630Cite this data as: Guijarro-Sabaniel, J. Kelly, N.E. Land use atlas for coastal watersheds in the Maritimes Region. Published May 2022. Coastal Ecosystems Science Division, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth, N.S.

Location of Harbour Seal haulout locations in coastal BC waters. CRIMS is a legacy dataset of BC coastal resource data that was acquired in a systematic and synoptic manner from 1979 and was intermittently updated throughout the years. Resource information was collected in nine study areas using a peer-reviewed provincial Resource Information Standards Committee consisting of DFO Fishery Officers, First Nations, and other subject matter experts. There are currently no plans to update this legacy data.

Distribution of Alcid habitat in coastal British Columbia showing relative abundance (RA) by season and overall relative importance (RI). RI is based on project region and not on the province as a whole. CRIMS is a legacy dataset of BC coastal resource data that was acquired in a systematic and synoptic manner from 1979 and was intermittently updated throughout the years. Resource information was collected in nine study areas using a peer-reviewed provincial Resource Information Standards Committee consisting of DFO Fishery Officers, First Nations, and other subject matter experts. There are currently no plans to update this legacy data.

The Coastal Environmental Baseline Program is a multi-year Fisheries and Oceans Canada initiative designed to work with Indigenous and local communities and other key parties to collect coastal environmental data at a series of sites across Canada, to build a better understanding of existing marine ecological conditions. The program began data collection in 2019, and with the onset of Phase 2 in 2023, the Maritimes region study area was expanded and renamed ‘Northwest Fundy Shores’. A physical oceanography program was designed to align with the oceanographic interests and data needs of local interest holders. Starting in 2023, oceanographic parameters including water temperature, salinity, depth and turbidity have been monitored at a series of locations in Passamaquoddy Bay, the St. Croix River, and along the Bay of Fundy coast, including the Musquash estuary Marine Protected Area (MPA). This dataset includes seasonal CTD (conductivity, temperature and depth) and turbidity data starting in spring 2023. Instruments are maintained through the winter months at a limited number of sites. Data collection methods are primarily moored instruments on the bottom in water depths of 5-90 meters, and a few buoyant surface floats. Overall, this dataset captures seasonal dynamics in near-shore marine environments in Passamaquoddy Bay, the St Croix River, the Bay of Fundy and the Musquash MPA. Cite this data as: Coastal Environmental Baseline Program (Maritimes Region), Northwest Fundy Shores conductivity, temperature and depth data. Published in May 2025. Coastal Environmental Baseline Program. Coastal Ecosystems Science Division, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, St. Andrews, N.B. 14-02-2025

This dataset was collected in support of a Competitive Science and Research Fund project (21-CC-05-06 Impacts of coastal acidification and climate change stressors on the Atlantic sea scallop: larval supply, recruitment and adaptive capacity to multiple global change drivers) lead by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). The objective of this research is to characterize coastal environmental conditions associated with scallop spawning and larval drift in Passamaquoddy Bay, New Brunswick. This dataset includes temperature, conductivity, salinity, sigma-theta, sea pressure, and depth information taken at weekly intervals at the sampling stations. In total, this dataset represents a total of 62 CTD profiles collected across 3 sampling stations over 22 sampling days from June to October 2022. Sampling stations were selected to compare scallop recruitment signals from Chamcook Harbour, a decommissioned scallop aquaculture site in Big Bay (MS-1077) and in the middle of Passamaquoddy Bay. Data were processed in accordance with instrumentation manufacturer guidelines and DFO Ocean Data and Information Section QAQC procedures. Cite this data as: Miller, E., Quinn, B., Azetsu-Scott, K., Childs, D., Gabriel, C-E., Newhook, M. 2025. Impacts of coastal acidification and climate change stressors on the Atlantic sea scallop. Published October 2025. Coastal Ecosystems Science Division, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, St. Andrews, N.B

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.

This shapefile dataset was designed using polygons extracted from the Cartography of Coastal Ecosystems of Maritime Quebec geodatabase (2022, Laboratory for Dynamics and Integrated Management of Coastal Zones, Fisheries and Oceans Canada), described in the paragraph below. It consists of polygons with eelgrass and incorporates attributes describing the vegetation cover, the composition of the seagrass beds, the associated ecosystem name, the imagery data that allowed photo-interpretation and the presence or absence of field data. A unique sequence number associated with each polygon makes it possible to trace the paired polygon of the geodatabase of coastal ecosystems to attribute values not detailed in this shapefile. 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 of Maritime Quebec 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; and by the Fisheries and Oceans Canada team, as part of the Integrated Marine Response Planning Program (IMRP). A classification of coastal ecosystems was carried out on more than 4,200 km of coastal corridor, focusing on estuarine and maritime coasts of Quebec located between the limit of the upper foreshore and the shallow infralittoral (about 10m deep). The mapping method developed is based on semi-automated segmentation and a photo-interpretation of coastal ecosystems, using very high resolution multispectral photographs (RBVI) acquired between 2015 and 2020 by DFO. The classification of polygons is based on the assignment of predefined value classes for the biological and physical attributes under study (e.g., substrates, plant type, vegetation cover, geosystem, etc. ). Helicopter-born oblique photographs and field data helped to reduce the uncertainty associated with photo-interpretation. UQAR and DFO conducted field sampling campaigns targeting the mediolittoral (4,390 stations) and the lower mediolittoral and infralittoral zones (2,959 stations), respectively , which validated some of the attributes identified by photo-interpretation and provided detailed information on community structure . The geodatabase of the Mapping of coastal ecosystems is hosted and managed by UQAR on their SIGEC-Web cartographic platform: https://ldgizc.uqar.ca/Web/sigecwebCredits © DFO (2023, Fisheries and Oceans Canada)Provencher-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. 3617 : 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. 3616 : 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.

Points, polylines and polygons where species and features have been found, harvested or detailed.Community Based Coastal Resource Inventory (CCRI) – Fisheries and Oceans Canada in conjunction with several Federal and Provincial agencies created, implemented, and managed a program which set out to develop a coastal resource inventory based on the traditional knowledge of local residents. Through partnerships with the province of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Regional Economic Development (RED) Boards and other community based groups the project assembled a database containing several decade’s worth of local knowledge. The value of the information collected came through individual interviews with people who had extensive knowledge of the immediate geography and resource, having lived, worked and harvested the regions over a lifetime. This project ran from 1996 to 2007.

Likelihood of Presence of Soft Shelled Clams in the Bay of Fundy and Port Hawkesbury Area Response Plan. The Coastal Oceanography and Ecosystem Research section (DFO Science) reviewed reported Clam harvest and study areas as well utilized local knowledge of the areas to estimate clam flats. A version of this dataset was created for the National Environmental Emergency Center (NEEC) following their data model and is available for download in the Resources section.Cite this data as: Lazin, G., Hamer, A.,Corrigan, S., Bower, B., and Harvey, C. Data of: Likelihood of presence of Soft Shelled Clam in Area Response Planning pilot areas. Published: June 2018. Coastal Ecosystems Science Division, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, St. Andrews, N.B. https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/59121e8f-0acc-411a-99cb-54980df10ba6

Modeled data showing the likely distribution of harbour seals. CRIMS is a legacy dataset of BC coastal resource data that was acquired in a systematic and synoptic manner from 1979 and was intermittently updated throughout the years. Resource information was collected in nine study areas using a peer-reviewed provincial Resource Information Standards Committee consisting of DFO Fishery Officers, First Nations, and other subject matter experts. There are currently no plans to update this legacy data.