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 Global Ice-Ocean Prediction System (GIOPS) produces global sea ice and ocean analyses and 10 day forecasts daily. This product contains time-mean sea ice and ocean forecast fields interpolated to two grids. One of the grids is a 0.2° resolution regular latitude-longitude grid covering the global ocean (north of 80° S). The other grid is in north-polar stereographic projection with a 5-km spacing at the standard parallel 60° N and covers the Arctic Ocean and the neighbouring sub-polar seas. Data is available for 50 depths. The data files are in netCDF format and comply with the Climate and Forecast Conventions.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has been conducting surface water trawl surveys since 1992 in the coastal waters of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and Alaska and in the high seas of the Gulf of Alaska. These surveys initially focused on determining the migratory patterns (1992-2002) and on the growth and physiology (2003-2016) of juvenile Pacific Salmon. Since 2016, these surveys have been broadened to monitor the whole pelagic ecosystem, retaining a focus on juvenile Pacific Salmon. Data were collected from sites in the inland sea waters of British Columbia and Washington State, USA, that comprise the Strait of Georgia, Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound since 2001 and are ongoing.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has been conducting surface water trawl surveys since 1992 in the coastal waters of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and Alaska and in the high seas of the Gulf of Alaska. These surveys initially focused on determining the migratory patterns (1992-2002) and on the growth and physiology (2003-2016) of juvenile Pacific Salmon. Since 2016, these surveys have been broadened to monitor the whole pelagic ecosystem, retaining a focus on juvenile Pacific Salmon. Surveys have been conducted on the continental shelf of north and west Vancouver Island, included associated sounds and inlets since 1992 and are ongoing. These data are for tows conducted in the continental shelf area for depths shallower than 400 meters.

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.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has been conducting surface water trawl surveys since 1992 in the coastal waters of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and Alaska and in the high seas of the Gulf of Alaska. Data collected in shelf and slope waters of Alaska to depths less than 400 meters are part of this larger survey series, but are limited to 1995-2011. These surveys focused on determining the migratory patterns (1992-2002) and on the growth and physiology (2003-2011) of juvenile Pacific Salmon. The surveys had funding support from the Bonneville Power Administration as part of the 1995-2011 Canada-USA Salmon Shelf Survival Study. The intent of that study was to monitor and evaluate the effects of ocean conditions on the distribution, migration, growth, and survival of Pacific salmon during their first ocean year, and estimate the subsequent impacts on abundance of Chinook salmon adults returning to the Columbia River system.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has been conducting surface water trawl surveys since 1992 in the coastal waters of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and Alaska and in the high seas of the Gulf of Alaska. These surveys initially focused on determining the migratory patterns (1992-2002) and on the growth and physiology (2003-2016) of juvenile Pacific Salmon. Since 2016, these surveys have been broadened to monitor the whole pelagic ecosystem, retaining a focus on juvenile Pacific Salmon. In this record, surveys were conducted in continental slope waters at depths greater than 400 m out to the Gulf of Alaska, between 1995 and 2011. Periodically, there are tows from surveys conducted in other regions that occurred on the continental slope and they are included here. This set of data also includes data collected during the International Year of Salmon survey in 2022.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has been conducting surface water trawl surveys since 1992 in the coastal waters of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and Alaska and in the high seas of the Gulf of Alaska. These surveys initially focused on determining the migratory patterns (1992-2002) and on the growth and physiology (2003-2016) of juvenile Pacific Salmon. Data collected in shelf and slope waters at depths less than 400 meters off Washington and Oregon State are part of this larger survey series, but are limited to 1999-2001. These surveys focused on determining the migratory patterns of juvenile Pacific Salmon and had funding support from the Bonneville Power Administration as part of the 1995-2011 Canada-USA Salmon Shelf Survival Study. The intent of that study was to monitor and evaluate the effects of ocean conditions on the distribution, migration, growth, and survival of Pacific salmon during their first ocean year, and estimate the subsequent impacts on abundance of Chinook salmon adults returning to the Columbia River system.

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.

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.