PURPOSE:The focus of this research is on changes in the distribution of killer whales in the Canadian Arctic, which is within the field of marine biogeography and marine megafauna. Our research details change in killer whale presence and ties it to changes in sea ice coverage. These are novel results, presenting trends in the arrival and departure dates of killer whales into the eastern Canadian Arctic for the first time. We go on to discuss the impacts of these changes on other aspects of Arctic ecosystems and how increasing in killer whale presence might affect other species and the management of those species in Canada. Killer whales are a widespread species of interest, especially in the Canadian Arctic as their presence is tied to multiple aspects of a region rapidly changing from the effects of climate change. DESCRIPTION:This study examines 20 years of killer whale (Orcinus orca) sightings in the eastern Canadian Arctic, drawing from a comprehensive sighting database spanning 1850-2023. Despite inherent biases favoring data collection near communities and coastal areas, spatiotemporal analyses reveal significant shifts in killer whale distribution linked to changing sea ice conditions. We developed a clustering metric representing the mean distance to the five nearest sightings and results show that killer whales are progressively moving away from historically high-use areas and that sighting locations are becoming more dispersed over time. A significant year × sea ice interaction indicates observations occur earlier during their arrival period at lower sea ice concentrations over time, suggesting that declining sea iceconcentration contributes to earlier arrival. Conversely, for departure periods, killer whales are observed farther south later in the year, likely linked to earlier freeze-up at higher latitudes, and are overall observed later into the year over time. This trend has led to a near doubling of their average presence from 26 days in 2002 to 48 days in 2023 (27 July to 13 September) reflecting an extended open-water season. These findings underscore the prolonged seasonal use of Arctic regions by killer whales, driven by diminishing sea ice and expanding openwater habitat. Such shifts highlight potential implications for Arctic marine ecosystems as killer whales increasingly overlap with endemic species.

Modeled data showing the likely distribution of Killer Whales. 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.

TOLLPOINT _OFFICIAL is one of the important layers for Saskatchewan Upgraded Road Network (SURN) and National Road Network (NRN). The TOLLPOINT _OFFICIAL provides the information of road Toll Points to clients that require accurate, relatively up-to-date and detailed description of Saskatchewan Road Network.TOLLPOINT _OFFICIAL, This layer contains data about a place where a right-of-way is charged to gain access to a motorway, a bridge, etc. TOLLPOINT _OFFICIAL contains all the Toll Point locations in the Saskatchewan. TOLLPOINT _OFFICIAL is an important part of the Saskatchewan road network dataset. Each point geometry " TOLLPOINT" has unique Identifiers (NID). "NID" National Identifier is used to manage the updates between data producer and data users.

RESULTS Openings are administrative boundaries for areas harvested with silviculture obligations or natural disturbances with intended forest management activities on Crown Land. The RESULTS openings_svw is a spatial view made up of a number of tables containing information on disturbance dates, generalized bec, forest district, opening category, opening status, previous tree species, opening gross area, average slope, average elevation, aspect, along with maximum and minimum elevation values, and many more fields.