Conservation network sites for the Scotian Shelf-Bay of Fundy Bioregion

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has worked with partners and ocean users to develop a draft conservation network plan for the Scotian Shelf-Bay of Fundy Bioregion. This work led to the 2017 draft conservation network plan. The draft plan was updated after targeted consultations from 2021 to 2022. The latest draft reflects new science information on climate change, updated human-use activities (such as fisheries data), and feedback from consultations.

This dataset includes the latest existing and proposed conservation sites in the Scotian Shelf-Bay of Fundy Bioregion.

Existing sites:

-Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

-Marine refuges

-Migratory bird sanctuary, National Wildlife area and National Park with marine components

Proposed sites:

-Areas of Interest (AOIs) and their lead agency

-Tier 1 sites – higher priority for implementation and are among the sites that could be selected for advancement by 2030. These sites have high conservation value based on the confirmed presence of key ecological features. The lead federal agency is specified for all tier 1 sites.

-Tier 2 sites - are important to create a representative conservation network but will not be considered for advancement by 2030. These sites require more research and information on ecological features and human uses before implementation.

-Other sites have also been identified through network planning. These are not considered part of the conservation network plan at this time.

Proposed conservation sites:

1. Cobequid Bay

2. Southern Bight

3. Chignecto Bay

4. Salmon Rivers

5. Bay of Fundy Horse Mussel Aggregations

6. West Isles and Passages

7. Long Eddy

8. South Grand Manan

9. Brier Island

10. Chebogue

11. Eel Bay

12. McNutts Island

13. Pemsɨk

14. LaHave Islands

15. Sambro Ledges-Prospect

16. Martinique Beach and Musquodoboit Harbour

17. St. Mary’s (Napu’saqnuk) River and Estuary

18. Country Island

19. MacNamaras Island

20. Canso Ledges-Sugar Harbour Islands

21. Fleur-de-Lis Coast

22. Bird Islands

23. Ingonish

24. Aspy Bay

25. Bras d’Or Lake

26. Southwest Bank

27. Western Jordan Basin

28. Georges Bank

29. LaHave Basin

30. Scotian Gulf

31. Central Scotian Slope, Rise, and Abyss

32. Inner Shelf Sea Pen Field

33. Sable Island Bank

34. Logan Canyon

35. Canso Bank and Channels

36. Misaine Bank and Laurentian Channel

37. Eastern Shoal

38. Cold Seeps

Boundaries are preliminary and subject to change following public consultation.

Datasets available for download

• ConservationNetwork_ReseauDeConservation_FGDB.zipFGDB/GDB
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• ConservationNetwork_ReseauDeConservation_shapefile.zipSHP
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• Network_Réseau_Metadata.csvCSV
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• Marine protected area (MPA) network developmentHTML
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• Draft conservation network sites for the...HTML
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• Developing the draft conservation network plan...HTML
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• Marine protected area (MPA) network developmentHTML
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• Developing the draft conservation network plan...HTML
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• Draft conservation network sites for the...HTML
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• Conservation Network SitesHTML
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• Conservation Network SitesHTML
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• Conservation NetworkEsri REST
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• Conservation NetworkEsri REST
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• Aquatic ecosystems
• Canada
• Conservation
• Conservation network
• DFO Maritimes Region
• Existing and...
• Form Descriptors
• Government and Politics
• Integrated management
• Marine conservation areas
• Marine heritage
• Nature and Environment
• Networks
• Science and Technology
• Scotian Shelf-Bay...

Additional Info

• Maturity Level 1 (54%)
• Maturity Level 2 (38%)
• Maturity Level 3 (0%)
• Maturity Level 4 (0%)
• Maturity Level 5 (0%)
• Maturity Level 6 (0%)

Field	Value
Last Updated	October 20, 2025, 02:41 (UTC)
Created	October 20, 2025, 02:41 (UTC)
Domain / Topic Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.	Biota, Boundaries, Geoscientific Information, Oceans
Title Title for the Dataset.	Conservation network sites for the Scotian Shelf-Bay of Fundy Bioregion
Description A description of the dataset.	Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has worked with partners and ocean users to develop a draft conservation network plan for the Scotian Shelf-Bay of Fundy Bioregion. This work led to the 2017 draft conservation network plan. The draft plan was updated after targeted consultations from 2021 to 2022. The latest draft reflects new science information on climate change, updated human-use activities (such as fisheries data), and feedback from consultations. This dataset includes the latest existing and proposed conservation sites in the Scotian Shelf-Bay of Fundy Bioregion. Existing sites: -Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) -Marine refuges -Migratory bird sanctuary, National Wildlife area and National Park with marine components Proposed sites: -Areas of Interest (AOIs) and their lead agency -Tier 1 sites – higher priority for implementation and are among the sites that could be selected for advancement by 2030. These sites have high conservation value based on the confirmed presence of key ecological features. The lead federal agency is specified for all tier 1 sites. -Tier 2 sites - are important to create a representative conservation network but will not be considered for advancement by 2030. These sites require more research and information on ecological features and human uses before implementation. -Other sites have also been identified through network planning. These are not considered part of the conservation network plan at this time. Proposed conservation sites: Cobequid Bay Southern Bight Chignecto Bay Salmon Rivers Bay of Fundy Horse Mussel Aggregations West Isles and Passages Long Eddy South Grand Manan Brier Island Chebogue Eel Bay McNutts Island Pemsɨk LaHave Islands Sambro Ledges-Prospect Martinique Beach and Musquodoboit Harbour St. Mary’s (Napu’saqnuk) River and Estuary Country Island MacNamaras Island Canso Ledges-Sugar Harbour Islands Fleur-de-Lis Coast Bird Islands Ingonish Aspy Bay Bras d’Or Lake Southwest Bank Western Jordan Basin Georges Bank LaHave Basin Scotian Gulf Central Scotian Slope, Rise, and Abyss Inner Shelf Sea Pen Field Sable Island Bank Logan Canyon Canso Bank and Channels Misaine Bank and Laurentian Channel Eastern Shoal Cold Seeps Boundaries are preliminary and subject to change following public consultation.
Tags / Keywords Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.	Aquatic ecosystems Canada Conservation Conservation network DFO Maritimes Region Existing and... Form Descriptors Government and Politics Integrated management Marine conservation areas Marine heritage Nature and Environment Networks Science and Technology Scotian Shelf-Bay...
Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc) File format of the dataset.
Dataset Size Dataset size in megabytes.
Metadata Identifier Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
Published Date Published date of the dataset.	2023-12-11
Time Period Data Span (start date) Start date of the data in the dataset.
Time Period Data Span (end date) End date of time data in the dataset.
GeoSpatial Area Data Span A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.

Field	Value
Access category Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
License License used to access the dataset.	Open Government Licence - Canada
Limits on use Limits on use of data.
Location Location of the dataset.	https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/bb048082-bc05-4588-b4f0-492b1f1b8737
Data Service Data service for accessing a dataset.
Owner Owner of the dataset.	Fisheries and Oceans Canada | Pêches et Océans Canada
Contact Point Who to contact regarding access?	Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada, [email protected]
Contact Point Email The email to contact regarding access?
Publisher Publisher of the dataset.
Publisher Email Email of the publisher.	[email protected]
Author Author of the dataset.
Author Email Email of the author.
Accessed At Date the data and metadata was accessed.

Field	Value
Identifier Unique identifier for the dataset.
Language Language(s) of the dataset
Link to dataset description A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
Persistent Identifier Data is identified by a persistent identifier.
Globally Unique Identifier Data is identified by a persistent and globally unique identifier.
Contains data about individuals Does the data hold data about individuals?
Contains data about identifiable individuals Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
Contains Indigenous Data Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
Portal Type Platform type of the source portal.

Field	Value
Version Version of the datatset	None
Source Source of the dataset.	None
Version notes Version notes about the dataset.
Is version of another dataset Link to dataset that it is a version of.
Other versions Link to datasets that are versions of it.
Provenance Text Provenance Text of the data.
Provenance URL Provenance URL of the data.
Temporal resolution Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
GeoSpatial resolution in meters Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
GeoSpatial resolution (in regions) Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.

Field	Value
Indigenous Community Permission Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
Community Permission Community permission (who gave permission).
The Indigenous communities the dataset is about Indigenous communities from which data is derived.

Field	Value
Number of data rows If tabular dataset, total number of rows.
Number of data columns If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.
Number of data cells If tabular dataset, total number of cells with data.
Number of data relations If RDF dataset, total number of triples.
Number of entities If RDF dataset, total number of entities.
Number of data properties If RDF dataset, total number of unique properties used by the triples.
Data quality Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
Metric for data quality A metric used to measure the quality of the data, such as missing values or invalid formats.

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