Bay Scale Assessment of Nearshore Habitat Bras dOr Lake - Malagawash 2007 2008 data is part of the publication Bay Scale Assessment of Nearshore Habitat Bras d'Or Lakes. A history of nearshore benthic surveys of Bras d’Or Lake from 2005 – 2011 is presented. Early work utilized drop camera and fixed mount sidescan. The next phase was one of towfish development, where camera and sidescan were placed on one platform with transponder-based positioning. From 2009 to 2011 the new towfish was used to ground truth an echosounder. The surveys were performed primarily in the northern half of the lake; from 10 m depth right into the shallows at less than 1 m. Different shorelines could be distinguished from others based upon the relative proportions of substrate types and macrophyte canopy. The vast majority of macrophytes occurred within the first 3 m of depth. This zone was dominated by a thin but consistent cover of eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) on almost all shores with a current or wave regime conducive to the growth of this plant. However, the eelgrass beds were frequently in poor shape and the negative impacts of commonly occurring water column turbidity, siltation, or possible localized eutrophication, are suspected. All survey data were placed into a Geographic Information System, and this document is a guide to that package. The Geographic Information System could be used to answer management questions such as the placement and character of habitat compensation projects, the selection of nearshore protected areas or as a baseline to determine long term changes. Vandermeulen, H. 2016. Video-sidescan and echosounder surveys of nearshore Bras d’Or Lake. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 3183: viii + 39 p. Cite this data as: Vandermeulen H. Bay Scale Assessment of Nearshore Habitat Bras d'Or Lake - Malagawash 2007 - 2008. Published May 2022. Coastal Ecosystems Science Division, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth, N.S.

A history of nearshore benthic surveys of Bras d’Or Lake from 2005 – 2011 is presented. Early work utilized drop camera and fixed mount sidescan. The next phase was one of towfish development, where camera and sidescan were placed on one platform with transponder-based positioning. From 2009 to 2011 the new towfish was used to ground truth an echosounder. The surveys were performed primarily in the northern half of the lake; from 10 m depth right into the shallows at less than 1 m. Different shorelines could be distinguished from others based upon the relative proportions of substrate types and macrophyte canopy. The vast majority of macrophytes occurred within the first 3 m of depth. This zone was dominated by a thin but consistent cover of eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) on almost all shores with a current or wave regime conducive to the growth of this plant. However, the eelgrass beds were frequently in poor shape and the negative impacts of commonly occurring water column turbidity, siltation, or possible localized eutrophication, are suspected. All survey data were placed into a Geographic Information System, and this document is a guide to that package. The Geographic Information System could be used to answer management questions such as the placement and character of habitat compensation projects, the selection of nearshore protected areas or as a baseline to determine long term changes. Vandermeulen, H. 2016. Video-sidescan and echosounder surveys of nearshore Bras d’Or Lake. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 3183: viii + 39 p. Cite this data as: Vandermeulen H. Bay Scale Assessment of Nearshore Habitat Bras d'Or Lake. Published May 2022. Coastal Ecosystems Science Division, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth, N.S.

Bay Scale Assessment of Habitat in Bras d'Or Lake - River Denys 2005 - 2009 data is part of the publication Bay Scale Assessment of Nearshore Habitat Bras d'Or Lakes. A history of nearshore benthic surveys of Bras d’Or Lake from 2005 – 2011 is presented. Early work utilized drop camera and fixed mount sidescan. The next phase was one of towfish development, where camera and sidescan were placed on one platform with transponder-based positioning. From 2009 to 2011 the new towfish was used to ground truth an echosounder. The surveys were performed primarily in the northern half of the lake; from 10 m depth right into the shallows at less than 1 m. Different shorelines could be distinguished from others based upon the relative proportions of substrate types and macrophyte canopy. The vast majority of macrophytes occurred within the first 3 m of depth. This zone was dominated by a thin but consistent cover of eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) on almost all shores with a current or wave regime conducive to the growth of this plant. However, the eelgrass beds were frequently in poor shape and the negative impacts of commonly occurring water column turbidity, siltation, or possible localized eutrophication, are suspected. All survey data were placed into a Geographic Information System, and this document is a guide to that package. The Geographic Information System could be used to answer management questions such as the placement and character of habitat compensation projects, the selection of nearshore protected areas or as a baseline to determine long term changes. Vandermeulen, H. 2016. Video-sidescan and echosounder surveys of nearshore Bras d’Or Lake. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 3183: viii + 39 p. Cite this data as: Vandermeulen H. Bay Scale Assessment of Nearshore Habitat Bras d'Or Lake - River Denys 2005 - 2009. Published May 2022. Coastal Ecosystems Science Division, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth, N.S.

An annual trawl survey is conducted in Southwestern Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy to assess the lobster stocks in the area. The survey is conducted with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center Ecosystem Survey Trawl (NEST), a small mesh trawl with a cod end liner, which ensures the capture of various sizes of lobster. The dimensions and location of the trawl are monitored and recorded throughout the tow using an electronic trawl mensuration system. In addition, water temperature and depth are also monitored. The target tow length is 1 kilometer which is tracked using an Olex marine charting system. Vessel crew, DFO science staff and a contracted at sea observer work together to perform required tasks and collect all relevant data. Catch from each tow is separated by species, weighed and counted. Length frequency data is collected on select groundfish and crab species and detailed morphometric data is collected on each lobster. PARAMETERS COLLECTED: Set information and profile - includes set date, time depth and location Catch summary - weight and number caught of each species Length Freqeuncies - completed for up to 100 fish for selected species Lobster Morphological Data - detailed data collected on each lobster Bottom Temperature Trawl Metrics NOTES ON QUALITY CONTROL: Data is visually verified and double keypunched. On loading to Oracle, data is run through rigorous automated checks to verify data accuracy and integrity. SAMPLING METHODS: The target tow length is 1 kilometer which is tracked using an Olex marine charting system. Vessel crew, DFO science staff and a contracted at sea observer work together to perform required tasks and collect all relevant data. Catch from each tow is separated by species, weighed and counted. Length frequency data is collected on select groundfish and crab species, detailed morphometric data is collected on each lobster. Bottom temperature and trawl metrics are collected for each tow. CITATION LIST: Denton, Cheryl M.. 2020. Maritimes Region Inshore Lobster Trawl Survey Technical Description. Canadian technical reports of fisheries and aquatic sciences (DFO) 3376.

Variation of average annual trawling activity (in hours) and macrobenthic biomass (g m-2), (a) and relationship of biomass with a four-year lag (mean value of time of the turnover in biomass value) to trawling activity, (b) along the Kola section of the Barents Sea during 1920-1997 (Denisenko 2001, 2013). STATE OF THE ARCTIC MARINE BIODIVERSITY REPORT - <a href="https://arcticbiodiversity.is/findings/benthos" target="_blank">Chapter 3</a> - Page 97 - Figure 3.3.5

Trends in biomass of marine fish Focal Ecosystem Components across each Arctic Marine Area STATE OF THE ARCTIC MARINE BIODIVERSITY REPORT - Chapter 4 - Page 180 - Figure 4.4

In 2012 and 2013, Fisheries and Oceans Canada conducted benthic imagery surveys in the Davis Strait and Baffin Basin in two areas then closed to bottom fishing, the Hatton Basin Voluntary Closure (now the Hatton Basin Conservation Area) and the Narwhal Closure (now partially in the Disko Fan Conservation Area). The photo transects were established as long-term biodiversity monitoring sites to monitor the impact of human activity, including climate change, on the region’s benthic marine biota in accordance with the protocols of the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program established by the Council of Arctic Flora and Fauna. These images were analyzed in a techncial report that summarises the epibenthic megafauna found in seven image transects from the Disko Fan Conservation Area. A total of 480 taxa were found, 280 of which were identified as belonging to one of the following phyla: Annelida, Arthropoda, Brachiopoda, Bryozoa, Chordata, Cnidaria, Echinodermata, Mollusca, Nemertea, and Porifera. The remaining 200 taxa could not be assigned to a phylum and were categorised as Unidentified. Each taxon was identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level, typically class, order, or family. The summaries for each of the taxa include their identification numbers in the World Register of Marine Species and Integrated Taxonomic Information System’s databases, taxonomic hierarchies, images, and written descriptions. The report is intended to provide baseline documentation of the epibenthic megafauna in the Disko Fan Conservation Area, and serve as a taxonomic resource for future image analyses in the Arctic. Baker, E., Beazley, L., McMillan, A., Rowsell, J. and Kenchington, E. 2018. Epibenthic Megafauna of the Disko Fan Conservation Area in the Davis Strait (Eastern Arctic) Identified from In Situ Benthic Image Transects. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 3272: vi + 388 p.

The Coastal Infrastructure Vulnerability Index (CIVI) was jointly developed by DFO Science Branch, Small Craft Harbours (SCH) Program and the Economic Analysis and Statistics Directorate. The CIVI was designed with the intent of developing a climate change adaptation tool that would support management decisions regarding the long-term infrastructure planning for SCH sites. The CIVI provides a numerical indication of the relative vulnerability of small craft harbour sites to the effects of climate change and was designed with three component sub-indices: Environmental Exposure (natural forces), Infrastructure, and Socio-economic. The spatial component for the coastline was derived from the CanVec 1:50,000 hydrographic layer (https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/9d96e8c9-22fe-4ad2-b5e8-94a6991b744b). This layer combines the 1:50,000 CanVec coastline of Canada with the following CIVI environmental exposure variables: - projected sea level rise (for the decades 2030, 2040,...2100) in meters - wave height (metres) and wind speed (metres/second) - change in sea ice coverage in Atlantic Canada from the 1970s to the 2000s Sea level change: Data for relative sea level change (SLC) were derived from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC 2014, AR5). The projected relative sea level change under the high emission scenario (RCP8.5) was calculated for all years between 2006 and 2100. Sea level change for the years 2030, 2040, 2050, 2060, 2070, 2080, 2090, and 2100 were used. Wind Speed and Wave Height Modelled hindcasts of yearly maximum wind speed (1990 - 2012) and wave height (1990- 2014) were used. This dataset was generated from IFREMER wave hindcasts using the WAVEWATCH III model with wind data from NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) (Saha et al. 2010). Two high resolution (10 minute) grids of Atlantic and Pacific maximum modeled wind speeds and maximum significant wave height were used for southern Canadian coastal areas while a coarser (30 minute) worldwide grid was used for the Arctic areas. From these datasets the mean annual maximum wind speed over 23 years and the mean maximum significant wave height over 25 years were calculated. Change in sea ice coverage: Sea ice data from the Canadian Ice Service were acquired for Atlantic and Arctic Canada, representing percent ice coverage for each week over four decades (1970s, 1980s, 1990, 2000s). For each decade a single dataset was calculated to represent the sum of all weeks with ice coverage in excess of 50%, with a maximum possible score of 52 weeks for each decade. To measure change in ice duration, the summary mapsheet from the 2000s was subtracted from the 1970s summary mapsheet. The final dataset represents the change between the 1970s and 2000s in the number of weeks with ice concentrations greater than 50%. A positive number indicates a reduction in weeks of ice coverage, a negative number an increase in ice coverage. The data for individual small craft harbours included here contains predicted sea level change for the decades between 2030 and 2100, wave height, windspeed, change in sea ice coverage, population, and the final environmental exposure sub-index value (ESI). The population for each harbour is derived from the 2016 Census of Canada data for the Census subdivision (CSD) geographic unit. Reference: Relative sea-level projections for Canada based on the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report and the NAD83v70VG national crustal velocity model https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/starweb/geoscan/servlet.starweb?path=geoscan/fulle.web&search1=R=327878 IPCC, 2014. Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Field, C.B., V.R. Barros, D.J. Dokken, K.J. Mach, M.D. Mastrandrea, T.E. Bilir, M. Chatterjee, K.L. Ebi, Y.O. Estrada, R.C. Genova, B. Girma, E.S. Kissel, A.N. Levy, S. MacCracken, P.R. Mastrandrea, and L.L. White (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 1132 pp. Cite this data as: Greenan B. and Greyson P. Coastal Environmental Exposure Layer. Published March 2022. Ocean Ecosystem Science Division, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth, N.S.

The Atlantic dataset is part of Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Shoreline Classification and Pre-Spill database. Shoreline classification data has been developed for use by the Environmental Emergencies Program of Environment and Climate Change Canada for environmental protection purposes. Marine and estuarine shorelines are classified according to the character (substrate and form) of the upper intertidal (foreshore) or upper swash zone (Sergy, 2008). This is the area where oil from a spill usually becomes stranded and where treatment or cleanup activities take place. The basic parameter that defines the shoreline type is the material that is present in the intertidal zone. The presence or absence of sediments is a key factor in determining whether oil is stranded on the surface of a substrate or can penetrate and/or be buried. This dataset contains thousands of linear shoreline segments ranging in length from 200 m and 2 km long. The entities represent the location of the segments and their geomorphological description. There exist further fields in the attribute table for this dataset. We are currently working on standardizing our shoreline segmentation datasets and the updated data will soon be uploaded to the catalog. Sergy, G. (2008). The Shoreline Classification Scheme for SCAT and Oil Spill Response in Canada. Proceedings of the 31stArctic and Marine Oil Spill Program Technical Seminar.Environment Canada, Ottawa, ON, Pp. 811-819.

The assessment of the status of eelgrass (Zostera marina) beds at the bay-scale in turbid, shallow estuaries is problematic. The bay-scale assessment (i.e., tens of km) of eelgrass beds usually involves remote sensing methods such as aerial photography or satellite imagery. These methods can fail if the water column is turbid, as is the case for many shallow estuaries on Canada’s eastern seaboard. A novel towfish package was developed for the bay-scale assessment of eelgrass beds irrespective of water column turbidity. The towfish consisted of an underwater video camera with scaling lasers, sidescan sonar and a transponder-based positioning system. The towfish was deployed along predetermined transects in three northern New Brunswick estuaries. Maps were created of eelgrass cover and health (epiphyte load) and ancillary bottom features such as benthic algal growth, bacterial mats (Beggiatoa) and oysters. All three estuaries had accumulations of material reminiscent of the oomycete Leptomitus, although it was not positively identified in our study. Tabusintac held the most extensive eelgrass beds of the best health. Cocagne had the lowest scores for eelgrass health, while Bouctouche was slightly better. The towfish method proved to be cost effective and useful for the bay-scale assessment of eelgrass beds to sub-meter precision in real time. Cite this data as: Vandermeulen H. Data of: Bay Scale Assessment of Eelgrass Beds Using Sidescan and Video - Bouctouche. Published: November 2017. Coastal Ecosystems Science Division, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth, N.S. https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/b4c83cd2-20f2-47d8-8614-08c1c44c9d8c