Marine Ecosection classification for coastal and offshore British Columbia. The Marine Ecosections are: Johnstone Strait; Continental Slope; Dixon Entrance; Hecate Strait; Queen Charlotte Strait; Juan de Fuca Strait; North Coast Fjords; Queen Charlotte Sound; Strait of Georgia; Subarctic Pacific; Transitional Pacific; and Vancouver Island Shelf. The British Columbia Marine Ecological Classification (BCMEC) is a hierarchical classification that delineates Provincial marine areas into Ecozones, Ecoprovinces, Ecoregions and Ecosections. The classification was developed from previous Federal and Provincial marine ecological classifications which were based on 1:2,000,000 scale information. The BCMEC has been developed for marine and coastal planning, resource management and a Provincial marine protected areas strategy. A new, smaller level of classification termed ecounits developed using 1:250,000 scale depth, current, exposure, subsurface relief and substrate was created to verify the larger ecosections, and to delineate their boundaries. CRIMS is a legacy dataset of BC coastal resource data that was acquired in a systematic and synoptic manner from 1979 and was intermittently updated throughout the years. Resource information was collected in nine study areas using a peer-reviewed provincial Resource Information Standards Committee consisting of DFO Fishery Officers, First Nations, and other subject matter experts. There are currently no plans to update this legacy data.

The aquatic ecosystem classification (AEC) is a science-based tool that groups and classifies Ontario’s rivers and streams based on their: * physical attributes, such as water temperature * watershed characteristics, such as upstream drainage area The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) is responsible for sustainably managing and deriving economic benefit from the fisheries and water resources in the 490,000 km of Ontario’s rivers and streams. The AEC reduces the complexity of these vast aquatic networks using consistent and quantitative methods to build a standardized data foundation that helps MNRF staff with landscape level planning and policy development.

Description: Biophysical Units: Under the Pacific Marine Ecological Classification System (PMECS; DFO 2016; Rubidge et al. 2016), biophysical units are areas of distinct physiographic and oceanographic conditions and processes that shape species composition at spatial extents of 1000s of km. Geomorphic units: Geomorphic units or geozones are discrete geomorphological structures at the scale of 100s of km that are assumed to have distinctive biological assemblages (e.g., plateaus, ridges, seamounts, canyons). Although the spatial scale of geomorphic units is nested within biophysical units, a single geomorphic unit such as a trough may span more than one biophysical unit. The following 5 layers are included in this geodatabase: 1. Biophysical_Units_L4A - Predicted PMECS Biophysical Units (Level 4A) output from the random forest analysis 2. Biophysical_Units_L4B - Predicted PMECS Biophysical Units (Level 4B) output from the random forest analysis 3. Biophysical_Units_ProbAssign_L4AB - Layer showing the probability that a grid cell was assigned to a given biophysical unit in the final random forest predictive modelling step 4. Cluster_L4AB - Layer showing the output of species assemblage cluster analysis 5. Geomorphic_Units - Geomorphic units for the BC coast that combines geomorphic units produced by Rubidge et al. 2016) and Proudfoot and Robb (2022). Methods: Biophysical Units: Rubidge et al. (2016) used a two-step process to identify biophysical units in British Columbia. First, a cluster analysis based on the similarity of species composition was used to group sites with similar species into distinct biological assemblages. Second, a random forest analysis was used to identify environmental correlates of the biological assemblages identified by the cluster analysis and to predict and assign the biological assemblage present in areas with too few biological data. Two different similarity thresholds were used to identify two levels (4A, 4B) of biophysical units; see Rubidge et al. (2016) for details. Indicator species for each assemblage (biophysical unit) were also identified. Geomorphic units: Rubidge et al. (2016) used the benthic terrain modeller (BTM) tool with broad and fine-scale benthic positioning index (BPI) parameters to define geomorphic units on the continental shelf in the Northern Shelf Bioregion and the continental slope in both the Northern Shelf Bioregion and Southern Shelf Bioregion. In 2022, geomorphic units were produced for the Strait of Georgia and Southern Shelf Bioregions following the same methods as Rubidge et al. (2016) (Proudfoot and Robb 2022). The geomorphic units produced as part of the PMECS process were merged with the geomorphic units produced for the Strait of Georgia and Southern Shelf bioregions to produce a continuous spatial data product representing geomorphic units for the Canadian Pacific continental shelf and slope. After merging, the geomorphic units produced in 2016 were unchanged (i.e., they are consistent with the original geomorphic units described in Rubidge et al. 2016). Data Sources: From Rubidge et al. (2016): Species data was taken from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) standardized fisheries-independent research surveys: groundfish trawl and long-line (2003-2013), Tanner Crab trawl and trap (2000–2006), and Dungeness Crab trap (2000–2014). Environmental data came from NASA, the Canadian Hydrographic Service, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Bio-ORACLE, and elsewhere (details in Rubidge et al. 2016). From Proudfoot and Robb (2022): bathymetry data came from Natural Resources Canada (details in Proudfoot and Robb 2022). Uncertainties: The data is intended for use at the bioregional scale, and caution should be used for finer-scale analyses.

Distribution of Alcid habitat in coastal British Columbia showing relative abundance (RA) by season and overall relative importance (RI). RI is based on project region and not on the province as a whole. CRIMS is a legacy dataset of BC coastal resource data that was acquired in a systematic and synoptic manner from 1979 and was intermittently updated throughout the years. Resource information was collected in nine study areas using a peer-reviewed provincial Resource Information Standards Committee consisting of DFO Fishery Officers, First Nations, and other subject matter experts. There are currently no plans to update this legacy data.

An ecoprovince is an area with consistent climatic or oceanography, relief and regional landforms. There one oceanic, two marine / terrestrial and seven terrestrial ecoprovinces occurring within British Columbia. Ecoprovinces are meant to be mapped at 1:2,000,000 for use in provincial state of the environment reporting

Points, polylines and polygons where species and features have been found, harvested or detailed. Community Based Coastal Resource Inventory (CCRI) – Fisheries and Oceans Canada in conjunction with several Federal and Provincial agencies created, implemented, and managed a program which set out to develop a coastal resource inventory based on the traditional knowledge of local residents. Through partnerships with the province of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Regional Economic Development (RED) Boards and other community based groups the project assembled a database containing several decade’s worth of local knowledge. The value of the information collected came through individual interviews with people who had extensive knowledge of the immediate geography and resource, having lived, worked and harvested the regions over a lifetime. This project ran from 1996 to 2007.

Ecosections are areas with minor physiographic and macroclimatic or oceanographic variations. There are 114 ecosections in British Columbia varying from pure marine units to pure terrestrial units. Ecosections are meant to be mapped at small scales (1:250,000) for resource emphasis and area planning

Ecodivisions are areas of broad climatic and physiographic uniformity, defined at the continental level.

Estuaries are highly productive and diverse ecosystems that represent a geographic bottleneck between marine and freshwater systems. Estuaries have been identified as ecologically and biologically significant areas (EBSAs) in Canada’s Pacific Region because of their importance for the aggregation, productivity, and fitness of anadromous fishes, including Pacific salmon. However, estuaries are also the site of many anthropogenic activities, and the degradation of estuarine habitats such as eelgrass beds has had corresponding impacts on many species of ecological, economic, and cultural importance. To support a regional request for information to aid integrated coastal planning, a coastwide classification of estuaries based on anthropogenic activities was completed. Anthropogenic activities and associated stressors relevant to estuary habitats were identified through a literature review and used to guide the compilation of spatial datasets. The spatial datasets were then used in a cluster analysis that identified estuaries that share similar activity types and levels of use. Ecological information was then compiled and mapped to highlight how estuarine fishes and fish habitats considered significant or sensitive relate to the results of the clustering analysis and individual estuaries. This broad-scale analysis represents an initial assessment of BC’s estuaries that can help guide localized efforts and identify opportunities for management efficiencies among estuaries that face similar activities and stressors. Research needs for future evaluations at a finer-scale scale are detailed, as are linkages with projects underway within specific estuaries, to highlight opportunities for collaboration as priority estuaries are identified for management and conservation action. This data record includes select Appendix tables associated with the Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) research document entitled “Coastwide Evaluation and Classification of Pacific Region Estuaries based on Anthropogenic Activities and Significant Fish Habitat”. The Science Advisory Report from the regional peer review meeting held on April 12-13, 2023 is available at: https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/SAR-AS/2023/2023_039-eng.html The Appendix tables contain information summarized for individual estuaries along the Pacific Coast of Canada, as follows: Table G1 - Activity data by estuary including cluster assignment, coordinates of estuary centroid, bioregion, estuary and watershed areas, and activity count,. Activities marked with * are restricted datasets and the column is left blank. Area based activities were quantified using a generic raster cell constant value, and the extent of some activities were quantified by buffering and applying a distance decay to the raster values resulting in “generic area units” of overlap with estuaries. Refer to data dictionary (Table G4) for column descriptions and units. Table G3 - Ecological data by estuary including cluster assignment, coordinates of estuary centroid, and bioregion. See section 3.4 for details on how each metric was calculated. Refer to data dictionary (Table G4) for column descriptions and units. Table G4 – Data dictionary in English and French describing column headers and units for fields in Tables G1 and G3. Spatial data for the associated estuaries were mapped by the Pacific Estuary Conservation Program (PECP, Ryder et al. 2007) and the Pacific Birds Habitat Join Venture (PBHJV, PBHJV 2020) and are available for download at: https://pacificbirds.org/2021/02/an-updated-ranking-of-british-columbias-estuaries/