DFO Maritimes Region has conducted a cumulative human impact mapping analysis for the Scotian Shelf-Bay of Fundy management area to support ongoing Marine Spatial Planning initiatives (Murphy et al. 2024). Cumulative human impact mapping (CIM) combines spatial information on human activities and habitats with a matrix of vulnerability weights, into an intuitive relative ‘cumulative impact score’ that shows where cumulative human impacts are greatest and least. To map cumulative impacts in DFO’s Maritimes Region, a recently developed ecosystem vulnerability assessment for Atlantic Canadian waters (Murray et al. 2022) was combined with spatial information on 21 different habitat types and 45 human activities across five different sectors (climate change, land-based, marine-based, coastal, commercial fishing) following the methodology from Halpern et al. (2008). An uncertainty analysis of the cumulative impact map was conducted to assess the robustness of results and identify hot and cold spots of cumulative impacts.

This dataset provides: 1) cumulative impact maps for the DFO Maritimes Region at 1 km2 resolution: a total cumulative impact map (i.e. including all 45 human activities), as well as cumulative impact maps for each of the five sectors, 2) a layer that identifies which grid cells are considered hot and cold spots of cumulative human impacts, and 3) the habitat layers included in the CIM.

For further information concerning specifics of the maps and methods see Murphy et al. (2024) or contact the data provider.

References:

Halpern, B.S., Walbridge, S., Selkoe, K.A., Kappel, C.V., Micheli, F., D'Agrosa, C., Bruno, J.F., Casey, K.S., Ebert, C., Fox, H.E., Fujita, R., Heinemann, D., Lenihan, H.S., Madin, E.M.P., Perry, M.T., Selig, E.R., Spalding, M., Steneck, R., and Watson, R. 2008. A Global Map of Human Impact on Marine Ecosystems. Science. 319(5865): 948-952. doi:10.1126/science.1149345.

Murray, C.C., Kelly, N.E., Nelson, J.C., Murphy, G.E.P., and Agbayani, S. 2022. Cumulative impact mapping and vulnerability of Canadian marine ecosystems to anthropogenic activities and stressors. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Res. Doc. 2022/XXX. vi. + 52 p.

Murphy, G.E.P., Stock, A., and Kelly, N.E. 2024 (in press). From land to deep sea: A continuum of cumulative human impacts on marine habitats in Atlantic Canada. Ecosphere.

Cite this data as: Murphy, Grace; Kelly, Noreen (2023) Cumulative human impact maps for the Bay of Fundy and Scotian Shelf. Published September 2023. Coastal Ecosystems Science Division, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth, N.S. https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/37b59b8b-1c1c-4869-802f-c09571cc984b