Table 2.4
Marine and coastal ecosystem extent, by marine ecoregion


Table 2.4
Marine and coastal ecosystem extent, by marine ecoregion
Table summary
This table displays the results of Marine and coastal ecosystem extent. The information is grouped by Marine ecoregion (appearing as row headers), Ecosystem type, Salt marsh, Seagrass meadow, Kelp forest, Cold coral and sea sponge reef and Area unassigned, calculated using km units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Marine ecoregion Ecosystem type
Salt marsh Seagrass meadow Kelp forest Cold coral and sea sponge reef Area unassigned
km2
Estimated minimum total 1,114 1,429 634 293,341 5,451,558
Strait of Georgia 64 252 77 33 8,637
Southern Shelf 75 94 126 177 27,776
Offshore Pacific Note ..: not available for a specific reference period Note ..: not available for a specific reference period Note ..: not available for a specific reference period 12Table 2.4 Note 4 315,710
Northern Shelf 599 371 431 2,610 97,799
Arctic Basin Note ..: not available for a specific reference period Note ..: not available for a specific reference period Note ..: not available for a specific reference period Note ..: not available for a specific reference period 752,425
Western Arctic ..Table 2.4 Note 1 1 Note ..: not available for a specific reference period Note ..: not available for a specific reference period 539,588
Arctic Archipelago Note ..: not available for a specific reference period Note ..: not available for a specific reference period Note ..: not available for a specific reference period Note ..: not available for a specific reference period 268,633
Eastern Arctic ..Table 2.4 Note 1 1 ..Table 2.4 Note 2 55,542 727,291
Hudson Bay Complex ..Table 2.4 Note 1 274 ..Table 2.4 Note 2 757 1,243,656
Newfoundland-Labrador Shelves ..Table 2.4 Note 1 21 ..Table 2.4 Note 2 110,321 931,315
Scotian Shelf 178 49 ..Table 2.4 Note 2 Table 2.4 Note 3 80,742 335,497
Gulf of St. Lawrence 198 364 ..Table 2.4 Note 2 Table 2.4 Note 3 43,160 203,232
.. not available for a specific reference period
Note 1

Salt marsh is known to occur in this marine ecoregion. However, the area was unavailable and is not included in this estimate.

Return to note 1 referrer

Note 2

Kelp beds are known to occur in this marine ecoregion. However, the area was unavailable and is not included in this estimate. Point data for kelp can be found in Wilson K.L., M.A. Skinner and H.K. Lotze, 2019, "Projected 21st-century distribution of canopy-forming seaweeds in the Northwest Atlantic with climate change," Diversity and Distributions, Vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 582-602, https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12897 (accessed May 22, 2020).

Return to note 2 referrer

Note 3

Kelp was observed pre- and post-2000, but decreases have occurred as a result of warming waters. Bernier, R.Y., R.E. Jamieson and A.M. Moore (Eds.), 2018, "State of the Atlantic Ocean synthesis report," Can.Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 3167:iii+149p. Kelp was historically found in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, but is now uncommon. The Eastern shore Islands of the Scotian Shelf have dense kelp beds, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2019, "Ecological Importance," Eastern Shore Islands: Area of Interest (AOI), https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/oceans/aoi-si/easternshore-ilescoteest-eng.html (accessed September 29, 2020).

Return to note 3 referrer

Note 4

Coldwater coral is known to occur in the Offshore Pacific Seamounts and Vents Marine Protected Area and SGaan Kinghlas-Bowie Seamount Marine Protected Area. However, the area within these protected areas was unavailable and is not included in this estimate.

Return to note 4 referrer

Notes: Salt marsh, seagrass meadow, kelp forest and cold coral and sea sponge reef areas are underestimated because of the difficulty of fully mapping Canada's marine regions. Some seagrass and cold water coral area estimates have been derived from point data. The total marine and coastal area covered by this table includes some small inlets and shallow bays that are excluded from other tabulations and small overlaps between ecosystem types may occur. For more information, see Appendix A.
Sources: McOwen, C., et al., 2017, "A global map of saltmarshes," Biodiversity Data Journal, Vol. 5: e11764, https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.5.e11764 and http://data.unepwcmc.org/datasets/43 (v.6) (accessed September 20, 2019); British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, 2019, Kelp Beds - Coastal Resource Information Management System (CRIMS), GeoBC, https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/kelp-beds-coastal-resource-information-management-system-crims (accessed April 4, 2019); Freiwald, A., et al., 2017, "Global distribution of cold-water corals (version 5.0)," Fifth update to the dataset in Freiwald, et al., 2004, by UNEP-WCMC, in collaboration with A. Freiwald and J. Guinotte, Cambridge (UK): UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre, http://data.unep-wcmc.org/datasets/3 (accessed June 3, 2019); Kenchington, E., et al., 2018, Delineation of Coral and Sponge Significant Benthic areas in Eastern Canada Using Kernel Density Analyses and Species Distribution Models, https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/hnp4xr2sy3 (accessed May 14, 2019); Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2016, Oceans Act Marine Protected Areas, https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/a1e18963-25dd-4219-a33f-1a38c4971250 (accessed September 9, 2019); Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2017, Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures, https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/44769543-7a23-4991-a53f-c2cf7c7a946f (accessed September 9, 2019); B.C. Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, 2019, Eelgrasses - Coastal Resource Information Management System (CRIMS), GeoBC, https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/eelgrasses-coastal-resource-information-management-system-crims (accessed April 4, 2019); Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2019, Eelgrass inventory in James Bay, Chaleur Bay, Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence, https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/c9ab948f-5009-4dbc-9129-2f6e373f17f6 (accessed September 30, 2019); Personal communication with Brett Painter, Environment and Climate Change Canada, June 21, 2019; Personal communication with Heike Lotz, Dalhousie University, June 21, 2019; Personal communication with John Cristiani and Mary O'Connor, University of British Columbia, June 14, 2019; Personal communication with Amanda Bates and Jasmin Schuster, Memorial University (February 10, 2020), Personal communication with Arnault LeBris, Memorial University (May 20, 2020); UNEP-WCMC and F.T. Short, 2018, Global distribution of seagrasses (version 6.0), Sixth update to the data layer used in Green and Short, 2003, Cambridge, (UK): UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre, http://data.unep-wcmc.org/datasets/7 (accessed September 30, 2020).
Date modified: