Research Document 2017/013
Identification and Descriptions of Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas in the Newfoundland and Labrador Shelves Bioregion
By Wells, N.J., Stenson, G.B., Pepin, P., and Koen-Alonso, M.
Abstract
The Oceans Act (1997) commits Canada to maintaining biological diversity and productivity in the marine environment. A key component of this is to identify areas that are considered to be ecologically or biologically significant. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has developed guidelines on the criteria that are to be used to identify Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) within Canada’s waters. These criteria were applied to the Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) Shelves Bioregion, north of the Placentia Bay-Grand Banks (PBGB) Large Ocean Management Area (LOMA) to facilitate the identification of candidate EBSAs. An EBSA Steering Committee, comprised of experts in oceanography, ecosystem structure and function, taxa-specific life histories and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) guided this process by advising or aiding in the identification, collection, processing and analysis of data layers, as well as participating in the final selection of candidate EBSAs. A peer review meeting was held October 23–25, 2012 during which the candidate EBSAs were reviewed and the final EBSAs were agreed upon and delineated. A total of fifteen EBSAs were identified within the study area; three of these areas are considered to be primarily coastal areas; seven are in offshore areas; four EBSAs straddle coastal and offshore areas; and one is a transitory EBSA that follows the southern extent of pack ice.
Accessibility Notice
This document is available in PDF format. If the document is not accessible to you, please contact the Secretariat to obtain another appropriate format, such as regular print, large print, Braille or audio version.
- Date modified: