• Arctic SDI catalogue
  •  
  •  
  •  

Important Areas for Cetaceans in Strait of Georgia Ecoregion

This layer details Important Areas (IAs) relevant to key cetacean species in the Strait of Georgia (SOG) ecoregion. This data was mapped to inform the selection of marine Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSA). Experts have indicated that these areas are relevant based upon their high ranking in one or more of three criteria (Uniqueness, Aggregation, and Fitness Consequences). The distribution of IA's within ecoregions is used in the designation of EBSA's.

Canada’s Oceans Act provides the legislative framework for an integrated ecosystem approach to management in Canadian oceans, particularly in areas considered ecologically or biologically significant. DFO has developed general guidance for the identification of ecologically or biologically significant areas. The criteria for defining such areas include uniqueness, aggregation, fitness consequences, resilience, and naturalness. This science advisory process identifies proposed EBSAs in Canadian Pacific marine waters, specifically in the Strait of Georgia (SOG), along the west coast of Vancouver Island (WCVI, southern shelf ecoregion), and in the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA, northern shelf ecoregion).

Initial assessment of IA's in PNCIMA was carried out in September 2004 to March 2005 with spatial data collection coordinated by Cathryn Clarke. Subsequent efforts in WCVI and SOG were conducted in 2009, and may have used different scientific advisors, temporal extents, data, and assessment methods. WCVI and SOG IA assessment in some cases revisits data collected for PNCIMA, but should be treated as a separate effort.

Other datasets in this series detail IAs for birds, coral and sponges, fish, geographic features, invertebrates, and other vertebrates.

Though data collection is considered complete, the emergence of significant new data may merit revisiting of IA's on a case by case basis.

Simple

Date ( RI_367 )
2019-11-18
Date ( RI_366 )
2009-10-30
RI_413
  Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Marine Spatial Ecology and Analytics Section (MSEA) - Joanne Lessard ( Research Biologist )
Pacific Biological Station 3190 Hammond Bay Road , Nanaimo , British Columbia , V9T 6N7 , Canada
250-729-8364
Credit
Clarke, C.L., and Jamieson, G.S. 2006. Identification of ecologically and biologically significant areas in the Pacific North Coast Intergrated Management Area: Phase I - Identification of important areas. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2678: vi + 89 p.
Credit
Clarke, C.L., and Jamieson, G.S. 2006. Identification of ecologically and biologically significant areas in the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area: Phase II – Final Report. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2686: v + 25 p.
Credit
DFO, 2004. Identification of Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Ecosystem Status Rep. 2004/006.
Credit
DFO, 2007. Guidance Document on Identifying Conservation Priorities and Phrasing Conservation Objectives for Large Ocean Management Areas. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Advis. Rep. 2007/010.
Credit
Jamieson, G.S. and Levesque, C. 2014. Identification of Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas on the West Coast of Vancouver Island and the Strait of Georgia, and in some nearshore areas on the North Coast: Phase II – Designation of EBSAs. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Res. Doc. 2014/101. vii + 36 p.
Status
completed; complété RI_593
Maintenance and update frequency
notPlanned; nonPlanifié RI_542
Keywords ( RI_528 )
  • Environmental planning
  • Marine ecosystems
  • IA
  • EBSA
  • Important Areas
Keywords ( RI_525 )
  • British Columbia
  • Strait of Georgia
  • Salish Sea
Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus Thésaurus des sujets de base du gouvernement du Canada ( RI_528 )
  • Environmental quality
  • Ecology
  • Whales
Classification
unclassified; nonClassifié RI_484
Use limitation
Open Government Licence - Canada (http://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada)
Access constraints
license; licence RI_606
Use constraints
license; licence RI_606
Spatial representation type
vector; vecteur RI_635
Metadata language
eng; CAN
Character set
utf8; utf8 RI_458
Topic category
  • Biota
Begin date
2008-10-01
End date
2009-10-30
N
S
E
W
thumbnail


Supplemental Information

Researchers with expertise for particular cetacean taxa drew polygons on a paper map to denote Important Areas for species that met a priori criteria. The expert's hand-drawn polygons were heads-up digitized using ArcGIS 9.2 on the 50,000 Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) coastline watershed basemap. Hand-drawn polygons were clipped using the U.S.- Canadian border and the PNCIMA and Offshore Ecoregion boundary polygons provided by OHEB-GIS unit. Experts were asked to provide confirmation and to check for accuracy and completeness. Any changes requested by the expert were performed and again returned to the expert for vetting.

The experts consulted were: John Ford (Harbour porpoise, Resident killer whale), Anna Hall (Harbour porpoise).

The dataset was updated in 2019 to conform to MSEA's GIS Hub publication standards. The SOG IA data series was split into taxonomic themes (birds, cetaceans, coral and sponges, fish, geographic features, invertebrates, and other vertebrates). The Check Geometry tool was used to validate each layer.

This package also includes project documentation and tech reports relevant to the IA process and its role within the selection of EBSAs.

Reference system identifier
http://www.epsg-registry.org / EPSG:3005 /
Distribution format
  • FGDB/GDB ( Unknown )

  • GEOJSON ( Unknown )

RI_412
  Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Marine Spatial Ecology and Analytics Section (MSEA) - Joanne Lessard ( Research Biologist )
Pacific Biological Station 3190 Hammond Bay Road , Nanaimo , British Columbia , V9T 6N7 , Canada
250-729-8364
OnLine resource
Important Areas for Cetaceans in SoG Ecoregion - Geodatabase ( HTTPS )

Dataset;FGDB/GDB;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Data Dictionary ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
References ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Important Areas for Cetaceans in SoG Ecoregion - GeoJSON ( HTTPS )

Dataset;GEOJSON;eng,fra

OnLine resource
IA for Cetaceans in SoG Ecoregion - GIS Hub metadata ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;PDF;eng

OnLine resource
IA for Cetaceans in SoG Ecoregion - GIS Hub metadata ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;PDF;fra

OnLine resource
Important Areas for Cetaceans in SoG Ecoregion ( ESRI REST: Map Server )

Web Service;ESRI REST;eng

OnLine resource
Important Areas for Cetaceans in SoG Ecoregion ( ESRI REST: Map Server )

Web Service;ESRI REST;fra

File identifier
5db1e0ce-4515-49ac-891f-a0862c59bc01 XML
Metadata language
eng; CAN
Character set
utf8; utf8 RI_458
Hierarchy level
dataset; jeuDonnées RI_622
Date stamp
2025-02-07T14:17:42.127Z
Metadata standard name
North American Profile of ISO 19115:2003 - Geographic information - Metadata
Metadata standard version
CAN/CGSB-171.100-2009
RI_414
  Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Marine Spatial Ecology and Analytics Section (MSEA) - Joanne Lessard ( Research Biologist )
Pacific Biological Station 3190 Hammond Bay Road , Nanaimo , British Columbia , V9T 6N7 , Canada
250-729-8364
 
 

Overviews

overview
Thumbnail_image_IA_Cetaceans_SoG.png

Spatial extent

N
S
E
W
thumbnail


Keywords


Provided by

logo

Associated resources

Not available


  •  
  •  
  •