Canada has the longest coastline in the world, measuring 243,790 kilometers. Many of our waterways along the coastline have to be dredged regularly to keep shipping channels and harbours open and safe for navigation; and this material is sometimes best disposed of at sea. Schedule 5 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA) defines an exclusive list of materials and substances suitable for disposal at sea in Canada, which is in accordance with the London Protocol (1996). They are: dredged material, fish waste resulting from industrial fish processing operations, ships or platforms, inert and inorganic geological matter, uncontaminated organic matter of natural origin, and bulky substances. The disposal of any substance into the sea, on the seabed, in the subsoil of the seabed, or onto ice, from a ship, an aircraft, a platform or other structure is not allowed unless a permit is issued by the Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) Disposal at Sea Program. Incineration at sea, as well as importing or exporting a substance for disposal at sea is also prohibited. More information on Disposal at Sea is available at: https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/disposal-at-sea.html

The Active and Inactive Disposal at Sea Sites in Canadian Waters dataset provides spatial and related information of at-sea disposal sites approved for use in Canada in the last ten years and that remain open for consideration for additional use. Any additional use of a disposal site must be conducted in accordance with the terms and conditions of a valid Disposal at Sea permit. The dataset may be of use in relation to Disposal at Sea permit applications. For some Disposal at Sea permit applications the data may be of use in assessing serious harm to fish under the Fisheries Act and assessing interference with navigation under the Navigation Protection Act.