Biological Sensitivity Mapping for Oil Spill Planning and Response, Quebec Region

The Planning for an Environmental Response (PIER) initiative falls under the umbrella of the Government of Canada's Oceans Protection Plan (OPP), whose goal is preserving marine ecosystems vulnerable to increased transportation and the development of the marine industry (https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/backgrounders/2016/11/07/canadas-oceans-protection-plan-preserving-and-restoring-canadas). The PIER was established in response to recommendations made in a 2013 report "A review of Canada's ship-source spill preparedness and response regime " by the Tanker Safety Expert Panel (https://tc.canada.ca/en/marine-transportation/marine-safety/tanker-safety-expert-panel). One of the recommendations calls on Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to work with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) to collect and compile information on sensitive species and environments for each Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) response area and make it publicly available.

The PIERs’ main mandate is to acquire and update biological sensitivity data under its jurisdiction for preparation and response purposes in the event of an oil spill. With DFO-Science, PIER supports ECCC's National Environmental Emergencies Centre (NEEC) and the CCG in their preparations and responses through the sharing of data on biological sensitivities, the development of response tools and expert advice.

In this vein, DFO published an analysis in 2018 that aimed to identify the most vulnerable components of the St. Lawrence in order to prioritize them during data collection if gaps were identified (Desjardins et al. 2018). This exercise highlighted the vulnerability of several biological components and important data gaps, particularly in coastal areas. As a result of this finding, the Quebec region PIEI team embarked on a collaborative project with the Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR) to map eelgrass beds, tidal marshes and macroalgal beds. In consultation with other DFO-Science data producers, this team has also created datasets adapted for response purposes, notably regarding bivalves and marine mammals. These layers may be used for oil spill preparedness and response by DFO-Quebec Region's Environmental Incident Coordinator, NEEC and CCG. Several of them, deemed relevant in the first 72 hours following a spill, have been transmitted to the NEEC.

Simple

Date ( RI_367 )
2022
Date ( RI_366 )
2022
RI_414
  Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Sciences/Demersal and Benthic Sciences Branch (DBSB) - Christine Desjardins ( Interim director )
Maurice Lamontagne Institute, 850, route de la Mer , Mont-Joli , Quebec , G5H 3Z4 , Canada
Status
completed; complété RI_593
Maintenance and update frequency
notPlanned; nonPlanifié RI_542
Keywords ( RI_525 )
  • Quebec
  • St. Lawrence river
  • Estuary of St. Lawrence
  • Gulf of St. Lawrence
Keywords ( RI_530 )
  • Planning
  • Response
  • Spill
  • Oil
  • PIER
  • Vegetation
  • Marshes
  • Eelgrass
  • Macroalgae
  • Seaweed
  • Algae
  • Marine mammals
  • Invertebrates
  • Bivalves
Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus Thésaurus des sujets de base du gouvernement du Canada ( RI_528 )
  • Aquatic ecosystems
  • Aquatic wildlife
  • Aquatic animals
  • Aquatic plants
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
Metadata language
fra; CAN
Character set
utf8; utf8 RI_458
Topic category
  • Biota
  • Environment
  • Oceans
Begin date
1952
End date
2020
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S
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W
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Reference system identifier
http://www.epsg-registry.org / EPSG:3978 /
Distribution format
  • ESRI REST ( Inconnue )

RI_414
  Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Sciences/Scientific Advice, Information and Support Branch - Gestion de données / Data Management ( )
Maurice Lamontagne Institute, 850, route de la Mer , Mont-Joli , Quebec , G5H 3Z4 , Canada
OnLine resource
Biological sensitivity map ( ESRI REST: Map Server )

Web Service;ESRI REST;eng

OnLine resource
Biological sensitivity map ( ESRI REST: Map Server )

Web Service;ESRI REST;fra

OnLine resource
Known concentration areas of the Stimpson's surfclam in the Estuary and the Gulf of St. Lawrence ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Known concentration areas of the Sea scallop and the Iceland scallop in the Gulf of St. Lawrence ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Known concentration areas of the Atlantic surfclam in the Gulf of St. Lawrence ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Known concentration areas of the Atlantic razor clam in the Estuary and the Gulf of St. Lawrence ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Known concentration areas of Arctic wedge clam in the Estuary and the Gulf of St. Lawrence ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Know concentration areas of the Softshell clam in the intertidal zone of the Estuary and the Gulf of St. Lawrence ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Important areas for Harp seal pupping and migration in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Atlantic Ocean ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Harp seal distribution in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Atlantic Ocean ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Harbor seal distribution and abundance in the Estuary and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, including Saguenay River ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Grey seal distribution and abundance in the Estuary and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, including Saguenay River ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Feeding and migration important areas for Blue whales in the Estuary and the Gulf of St. Lawrence and in the Atlantic Ocean ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Eelgrass in Quebec ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Biodiversity of the Planning for Integrated Environmental Response Coastal Survey in the St. Lawrence Estuary and Gulf (2017-2021) ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Beluga whale summer herds distribution in the St. Lawrence Estuary ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Beluga whale seasonal distribution in the St. Lawrence Estuary ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Beluga Relative Summer Density in the St. Lawrence Estuary ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Beluga Calves Relative Summer Density in the St. Lawrence Estuary ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Areas of high residency within the summer distribution of the beluga whale population ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Macroalgae in the coastal zone of maritime Quebec ( HTTPS )

Dataset;HTML;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Tidal marshes in the maritime coastal zone of Quebec ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng,fra

File identifier
d8a6c6fd-76cc-4d68-a949-c4d80eb2f296 XML
Metadata language
eng; CAN
Character set
utf8; utf8 RI_458
Hierarchy level
dataset; jeuDonnées RI_622
Date stamp
2025-04-24T15:38:33.859Z
Metadata standard name
North American Profile of ISO 19115:2003 - Geographic information - Metadata
Metadata standard version
CAN/CGSB-171.100-2009
RI_420
  Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Sciences/Scientific Advice, Information and Support Branch - Gestion de données / Data Management ( )
Maurice Lamontagne Institute, 850, route de la Mer , Mont-Joli , Quebec , G5H 3Z4 , Canada
 
 

Overviews

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