Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Emerald Basin on the Scotian Shelf off Nova Scotia, Canada, is home to a globally unique aggregation of the glass sponge Vazella pourtalesi, first documented in the region in 1889. In 2009, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) implemented two Sponge Conservation Areas to protect these sponge...

The annual summer scallop surveys on the principal grounds in the Bay of Fundy follow stratified-random designs. The gear comprises a ‘Digby scallop drag’ with four ‘buckets’, each of 760 mm inside width, their bags being made of 74 mm steel-wire rings linked by rubber washers. A comparative data...

PURPOSE: In this study, we examined the structure and function of the Southampton Island marine food web across 149 species of benthic and pelagic invertebrates, fishes, marine mammals and seabirds collected from 2016 to 2019, to provide a baseline for future studies that aim to quantify...

This dataset accompanies the open access article "Improving satellite chlorophyll-a retrieval in the turbid waters of the Bay of Fundy, Canada" published in Estuaries and Coasts (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-024-01334-x). A full methods description is provided in the article. Briefly, we...

The objective of this project was to gather data to develop a model of the food web of the lower trophic levels of the nearshore area of the Beaufort Sea. Sampling took place from 2005 to 2008 using the CCGS Nahidik. The multidisciplinary character of the Nahidik program produced measurements of...

This record contains results from stable isotope analysis of sediment samples including δ 13C (‰), δ 15N (‰), total N and total C collected in the Beaufort Sea.

The objective of this project was to gather data to develop a model of the food web of the lower trophic levels of the nearshore area of the Beaufort Sea. Sampling took place from 2005 to 2008 using the CCGS Nahidik. The multidisciplinary character of the Nahidik program produced measurements of...

This record contains information on the samples collected and the intended parameters for analysis from sediment cores collected as part of this project including bacteria, chemistry, stable isotopes, fatty acids, or meiofauna.

This record contains results from chemical analysis including suspended nitrogen (mg/g), suspended carbon (mg/g), and phosphorus (mg/g) based on dry weight sediment samples collected in the Beaufort Sea.

Mean fork length for returning adult Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) that spent one or two years (1SW and 2SW, respectively) in the marine environment for 16 rivers throughout Eastern Canada spanning an 10° latitudinal gradient. These data were collected as part of monitoring programs for Atlantic...

Between 2001 and 2004 a descriptive and comparative investigation of the benthic macro-infauna in 17 pockmarks and 10 reference locations outside pockmarks in Passamaquoddy Bay-Bay of Fundy- was made. This dataset contains the locations of the grab samples for each pockmark in the study area,...

The objective of this project was to gather data to develop a model of the food web of the lower trophic levels of the nearshore area of the Beaufort Sea. Sampling took place from 2005 to 2008 using the CCGS Nahidik. The multidisciplinary character of the Nahidik program produced measurements of...

Records of marine mammal sightings (N = 4,572) collected by ASOs and submitted to Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) regions between 1990-2022, across three DFO regions: the Arctic, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Maritimes. Methods for compilation and summary statistics are provided in the...

An exploratory fishery was carried out in the Mackenzie River Delta between 1989 and 1993 at the request of the Inuvik Hunters and Trappers Committee to assess the commercial fishery potential in this area. Data collected during this exploratory fishery was used in two technical reports. Broad...

A derivative of DFO’s benthic species survey for the Strategic Program for Ecosystem-based Research and Advice (SPERA) (open data record ID: e736c0f0-b19e-4842-903d-28bfc756d48a), this benthic survey funded through the Canadian Healthy Oceans Network (CHONeII) looks at the presence/absence and...

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...

The data in this layer represents habitat suitability of soft-shelled clams (Mya arenaria) in the DFO Maritimes region, and was developed using an interdepartmental approach. Substrate classification data as well as bathymetric data for the Region were used to identify potential habitat for...

In summer 2019, beach seining and paired environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling was conducted at ten sampling sites in coastal Nova Scotia, ranging from the Lunenburg area to the province’s Eastern Shore. A 25-metre Danish bag seine was deployed by boat twice at each site to capture fish and...

Acoustic telemetry is a widely used method in assaying behavioural dynamics in fishes. Telemetry tags are often surgically implanted in the coelom of the animal and are assumed to have minimal rates of post-release mortality and tag shedding. However, fish are capable expelling tags and...

Layer that includes the known information on the atlantic sturgeon breeding, feeding and concentration areas in the St. Lawrence River and Estuary according to a literature review of documents produced between 1993 and 2003. Additional Information Atlantic sturgeon's breeding, feeding and...