Table 2.3
Marine and coastal extent, by depth class and marine ecoregion
Marine ecoregion | Maximum water depth class | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coastal epipelagic | Epipelagic | Mesopelagic | Bathypelagic | Abyssalpelagic | Total | |
km2 | ||||||
Total exclusive economic zone | 812,532 | 1,866,901 | 1,459,181 | 1,485,749 | 122,533 | 5,746,894 |
Strait of Georgia | 3,273 | 3,173 | 2,522 | 2 | 0 | 8,970 |
Southern Shelf | 4,132 | 11,176 | 4,583 | 8,267 | 0 | 28,158 |
Offshore Pacific | 3 | 15 | 211 | 315,495 | 0 | 315,724 |
Northern Shelf | 23,423 | 39,737 | 25,109 | 13,060 | 0 | 101,328 |
Arctic Basin | 142 | 13,117 | 224,802 | 513,992 | 0 | 752,053 |
Western Arctic | 177,824 | 189,473 | 172,497 | 0 | 0 | 539,793 |
Arctic Archipelago | 43,739 | 91,959 | 133,099 | 0 | 0 | 268,797 |
Eastern Arctic | 77,149 | 154,899 | 362,773 | 187,819 | 0 | 782,639 |
Hudson Bay Complex | 343,386 | 759,653 | 141,606 | 0 | 0 | 1,244,644 |
Newfoundland-Labrador Shelves | 49,994 | 350,532 | 287,743 | 344,977 | 8,410 | 1,041,656 |
Scotian Shelf | 25,963 | 145,984 | 28,277 | 102,137 | 114,123 | 416,485 |
Gulf of St. Lawrence | 63,504 | 107,183 | 75,959 | 0 | 0 | 246,646 |
Note: This table classifies areas of Canada’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) by their maximum water depth. Areas classed as coastal epipelagic have a maximum depth of 50 m, the epipelagic class has depths from 50 m to 200 m, the mesopelagic class has depths of 200 m to 1000 m, the bathypelagic class has depths of 1 km to 4 km, and the abyssalpelagic class includes all areas with depths of more than 4 km. Within each area, the water column from the water surface to the seafloor is similarly divided into vertical zones. For example, areas classed as abyssalpelagic will have waters that are within the epipelagic, mesopelagic and bathypelagic zones. Source: GEBCO Compilation Group, 2015, GEBCO_2014 Grid, version 20150318, https://www.gebco.net/ (accessed December 5, 2018). |
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