The Beaufort Regional Environmental Assessment (BREA) was administered by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) between 2010 and 2015, and gathered information on regional environmental and socio-economic topics to support regulatory and management issues surrounding potential oil and gas development in the Beaufort Sea. Offshore marine fishes and habitats in the Beaufort Sea were identified as Tier 1 knowledge gaps by the BREA. In response, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) conducted a baseline survey of marine fishes and associated habitat and food web parameters in the offshore Beaufort Sea, called the Beaufort Sea Marine Fishes Project (BSMFP).

The objectives of the BSMFP were to establish regional baselines for 1) occurrences, diversity, relative abundances and distributions of offshore marine fishes; 2) associations between fishes, physical/chemical habitat parameters, and prey availability; and, 3) ecosystem linkages and energy pathways within and amongst marine habitats (i.e., nearshore-shelf, offshore shelf, slope, deepwater slope, and pelagic).