Riparian zones represent transitional areas occurring between land and freshwater ecosystems, characterised by distinctive hydrology, soil and biotic conditions and strongly influenced by the stream water. They provide a wide range of riparian functions (e.g. chemical filtration, flood control, bank stabilization, aquatic life and riparian wildlife support, etc.) and ecosystem services. The Riparian Zones products support the objectives of several European legal acts and policy initiatives, such as the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, the Habitats and Birds Directives and the Water Framework Directive. This metadata refers to the Riparian Zones Land Cover/Land Use (LC/LU) change for 2012-2018. The LC/LU classification is tailored to the needs of biodiversity monitoring in a variable buffer zone of selected rivers (Strahler levels 2-9 derived from EU-Hydro) for the change layer 2012-2018. LC/LU is extracted from Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite data and other available data in a buffer zone of selected rivers for supporting biodiversity monitoring and mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services. The class definitions follow the pre-defined nomenclature on the basis of Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) typology of ecosystems (Level 1 to Level 4) and CORINE Land Cover. The classification provides 55 distinct thematic classes with a Minimum Mapping Unit (MMU) of 0.5 ha and a Minimum Mapping Width (MMW) of 10 m. The production of the Riparian Zones products was coordinated by the European Environment Agency in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme.

This data depicts the locations of Short Rotation Woody Crop (SRWC) research, development and demonstration sites established across Canada by the Canadian Wood Fibre Centre, its partners and/or private land owners. Short Rotation Woody Crops represent enormous potential with respect to future sources of bioenergy and/or sinks for carbon. Since 2002, the Silviculture Innovation Group of the Canadian Wood Fibre Centre has established over 1 000 hectares of "high yield afforestation", “mixedwood afforestation” and "concentrated woody biomass" SRWC systems across Canada. The refinement of the biological and operational components of these systems is ongoing to improve production efficiencies, reduce costs, and enhance site sustainability. Development, assessment and validation of value-chain options for the establishment, recovery, transportation, handling and conditioning phases of these short rotation woody feedstock systems is also being performed. The refinement and demonstration of operational logistics along with the identification of supply and value-chain options will promote the concept of SRWC from basic research and development to the point of commercial uptake.

Akkeri og baujur og áætlaðar staðsetningar fyrir búnað í sjókvíaeldi.

This collection is a legacy product that is no longer supported. It may not meet current government standards. The North American Atlas data are standardized geospatial data sets at 1:10,000,000 scale. A variety of basic data layers (e.g. roads, railroads, populated places, political boundaries, hydrography, bathymetry, sea ice and glaciers) have been integrated so that their relative positions are correct. This collection of data sets forms a base with which other North American thematic data may be integrated. The North American Atlas data are intended for geographic display and analysis at the national and continental level. Any data outside of Canada, Mexico, and the United States of America included in the North American Atlas data sets is strictly to complete the context of the data.

This project was completed by the Coastal Environmental Baseline Program (Coastal and Freshwater Ecology Section) in the Newfoundland and Labrador Science Branch of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). The nearshore fish and invertebrate community was sampled annually in Placentia Bay at 14 sites for 5 years (2018 – 2022). The objective of this program was to collect data on juvenile fish (specifically Atlantic cod) communities and habitats within Placentia Bay. The sites and timing (October) were selected based on historical sampling. There were several data types collected during each of these sampling trips. Boat-based beach seining was used to collect data on fish and invertebrate diversity, abundance, distribution, and size. Visual transects were used to identify vegetation and substrate (habitat) types and proportions at seine sites. CTD profiles (temperature, conductivity, depth, and salinity) were obtained using a castaway CTD. Finally, eDNA samples were collected at each site (2018-2021) to obtain complementary information on the presence of juvenile fish and other species present. This record contains the geographic locations of the 14 sites, and information on the timing and type of data collected at each site.

Upplýsingar um eldissvæði í sjókvíaeldi sem eru í umsóknarferli hjá Matvælastofnun.

Data Sources: Banque informatisée des oiseaux de mer au Québec (BIOMQ: ECCC-CWS Quebec Region) Atlantic Colonial Waterbird Database (ACWD: ECCC-CWS Atlantic Region).. Both the BIOMQ and ACWD contain records of individual colony counts, by species, for known colonies located in Eastern Canada. Although some colonies are censused annually, most are visited much less frequently. Methods used to derive colony population estimates vary markedly among colonies and among species. For example, census methods devised for burrow-nesting alcids typically rely on ground survey techniques. As such, they tend to be restricted to relatively few colonies. In contrast, censuses of large gull or tern colonies, which are geographically widespread, more appropriately rely on a combination of broad-scale aerial surveys, and ground surveys at a subset of these colonies. In some instances, ground surveys of certain species are not available throughout the study area. In such cases, consideration of other sources, including aerial surveys, may be appropriate. For example,data stemming from a 2006 aerial survey of Common Eiders during nesting, conducted by ECCC-CWS in Labrador, though not yet incorporated in the ACWD, were used in this report. It is important to note that colony data for some species, such as herons, are not well represented in these ECCC-CWS databases at present. Analysis of ACWD and BIOMQ data (ECCC-CWS Quebec and Atlantic Regions): Data were merged as temporal coverage, survey methods and geospatial information were comparable. Only in cases where total counts of individuals were not explicitly presented was it necessary to calculate proxies of total counts of breeding individuals (e.g., by doubling numbers of breeding pairs or of active nests). Though these approaches may underestimate the true number of total individuals associated with a given site by failing to include some proportion of the non-breeding population (i.e., visiting adult non-breeders, sub-adults and failed breeders), tracking numbers of breeding individuals (or pairs) is considered to be the primary focus of these colony monitoring programs.In order to represent the potential number of individuals of a given species that realistically could be and may historically have been present at a given colony location (see section 1.1), the maximum total count obtained per species per site since 1960 was used in the analyses. In the case of certain species,especially coastal piscivores (Wires et al. 2001; Cotter et al. 2012), maxima reached in the 1970s or 1980s likely resulted from considerable anthropogenic sources of food, and these levels may never be seen again. The effect may have been more pronounced in certain geographic areas. Certain sites once used as colonies may no longer be suitable for breeding due to natural and/or human causes, but others similarly may become suitable and thus merit consideration in long-term habitat conservation planning. A colony importance index (CII) was derived by dividing the latter maximum total count by the potential total Eastern Canadian breeding population of that species (the sum of maximum total counts within a species, across all known colony sites in Eastern Canada). The CII approximates the proportion of the total potential Eastern Canadian breeding population (sum of maxima) reached at each colony location and allowed for an objective comparison among colonies both within and across species. In some less-frequently visited colonies, birds (cormorants, gulls, murres and terns, in particular) were not identified to species. Due to potential biases and issues pertaining to inclusion of these data, they were not considered when calculating species’ maximum counts by colony for the CII. The IBA approach whereby maximum colony counts are divided by the size of the corresponding actual estimated population for each species (see Table 3.1.2; approximate 1% continental threshold presented) was not used because in some instances individuals were not identified to species at some sites, or population estimates were unavailable.Use of both maxima and proportions of populations (or an index thereof) presents contrasting, but complementary, approaches to identifying important colonial congregations. By examining results derived from both approaches, attention can be directed at areas that not only host large numbers of individuals, but also important proportions of populations. This dual approach avoids attributing disproportionate attention to species that by their very nature occur in very large colonies (e.g., Leach’s Storm Petrel) or conversely to colonies that host important large proportions of less-abundant species (Roseate Tern, Caspian Tern, Black-Headed Gull, etc.), but in smaller overall numbers. Point Density Analysis (ArcGIS Spatial Analyst) with kernel estimation, and a 10-km search radius,was used to generate maps illustrating the density of colony measures (i.e., maximum count by species,CII by species), modelled as a continuous field (Gatrell et al. 1996). Actual colony locations were subsequently overlaid on the resulting cluster map. Sites not identified as important should not be assumed to be unimportant.

Fisheries landings and effort mapping of the inshore lobster fishery on the DFO Maritimes Region statistical grid (2012-2014). This report describes an analysis of Maritimes Region inshore lobster logbook data reported at a grid level, including Bay of Fundy Grey Zone data reported at the coordinate level. Annual and composite (2012–2014) grid maps were produced for landings, number of license-days fished, number of trap hauls, and the same series standardized by grid area, as well as maps of catch weight per number of trap hauls as an index of catch per unit effort (CPUE). Spatial differences in fishing pressure, landings, and CPUE are indicated, and potential mapping applications are outlined. Mapping the distribution and intensity of inshore lobster fishing activity has management applications for spatial planning and related decision support. The lack of region-wide latitude and longitude coordinates for lobster effort and landings limits the utility of commercial logbook data for marine spatial planning purposes.

Eldissvæði er svæði sem úthlutað er rekstarleyfishafa. Rekstrarleyfishafi hefur þá heimild til að hafa eldisbúnað til að ala fisk innan þess svæðis skv. skilyrðum rekstrarleyfisins.

Many cetacean species were depleted in Canadian Pacific waters by commercial whaling, which ended in 1967. Although some populations have since shown evidence of recovery, there is limited information about the current abundance and geographic distribution of many species, particularly in difficult-to-survey offshore regions. This lack of baseline data hampers conservation status assessments, including estimating population-level impacts of anthropogenic activities. From July to early September 2018, we conducted ship-based surveys of cetaceans throughout the coastal and offshore waters of British Columbia. Density surface modelling (DSM) was used to produce spatially-explicit abundance estimates and distribution maps for four commonly-encountered cetacean species: the humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), Dall’s porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli) and harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). We estimated abundances of 7,030 (95% CI = 5,733-8,620) humpback whales, 2,893 (95% CI = 2,171-3,855) fin whales, 23,692 (95% CI = 19,121-29,356) Dall’s porpoises and 5,207 (95% CI = 2,769-9,793) harbour porpoises throughout Canadian Pacific waters. Our results complement design-based abundance estimates calculated from the same survey data, and can be compared with past habitat modelling studies and historical whaling catch data to estimate the extent of recovery of previously harvested populations. The return of these predators to habitats from which they were previously extirpated will have important ecosystem-level implications. The DSM results can contribute to calculations of Potential Biological Removal estimates to inform fisheries bycatch, as well as providing spatial data that can be used to assess the risk of entanglements, ship strikes, acoustic disturbance, and other anthropogenic threats. This dataset contains model-predicted densities of four commonly-encountered cetacean species (humpback whale, fin whale, Dall's porpoise and harbour porpoise) that were estimated using ship-based, visual survey data collected during the Pacific Region International Survey of Marine Megafauna (PRISMM) in July-August of 2018. Abundance of each species (where relevant) is provided for three gridded strata (25 km2 cell size) in the Pacific Region: one for the offshore, extending to Canada’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and two for coastal areas (the North Coast and the Salish Sea).