Funded under DFO's Marine Conservation Targets Program, this two-year optical imagery benthic survey captured 41 drift-camera transects in the St. Anns Bank Marine Protected Area (MPA - 4364 km2) and 4 coastal transects west of the MPA, Atlantic Canada from August 15-23, 2023 and August 08-17, 2024. High-resolution still images (n=3605) were taken periodically throughout each transect, while continuous high-definition downward- and forward-facing video (~20 hours of each) was collected simultaneously along with over 14 hours of forward-facing Go-Pro video (only in 2024). Transect and image locations were collected using an acoustic positioning operating system (Kongsberg APOS) acquired in 2024; year-one of the survey relied on the vessel position. Distance travelled and distance between still images (m) was calculated using ArcGIS tools. Field of view (FOV) was estimated by measuring the length and width of a subset of still images from year-one of the survey (n=500) in ImageJ2, using 10-cm lasers for scale. FOV was standardized for each reported altitude. Transects ranged from 319 m to 2.8 km in length (~47 km surveyed in total), collecting imagery for 12 minutes to just over 1 hour at a time, surveying depths from 17 to 160 m below chart datum. Transect locations were selected based on unique bathymetric features and benthoscapes as well as areas previously surveyed from 2009-2015.

Cite this data as: Lawton P, Teed L. Near-seafloor drift transect video imagery and high-resolution digital still images from a two-year survey in support of Marine Protected Area monitoring of St. Anns Bank, Atlantic Canada. Published January 2025. Coastal Ecosystems Science Division, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, St. Andrews, N.B.