Coastwide Evaluation and Classification of Pacific Region Estuaries based on Anthropogenic Activities and Significant Fish Habitat

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/

Datasets available for download

• Data Dictionary EnglishCSV
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• Data Dictionary FrenchCSV
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• Activity data by estuaryCSV
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• Ecological data by estuaryCSV
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• Science Advisory ReportPDF
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• British Columbia
• Nature and Environment
• Pacific Region
• Science and Technology
• anthropogenic activities
• estuaries
• fish habitat

Additional Info

• Maturity Level 1 (54%)
• Maturity Level 2 (31%)
• Maturity Level 3 (0%)
• Maturity Level 4 (0%)
• Maturity Level 5 (0%)
• Maturity Level 6 (0%)

Field	Value
Last Updated	October 20, 2025, 02:58 (UTC)
Created	October 20, 2025, 02:58 (UTC)
Domain / Topic Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.	Biota
Title Title for the Dataset.	Coastwide Evaluation and Classification of Pacific Region Estuaries based on Anthropogenic Activities and Significant Fish Habitat
Description A description of the dataset.	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/
Tags / Keywords Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.	British Columbia Nature and Environment Pacific Region Science and Technology anthropogenic activities estuaries fish habitat
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.	2024-09-25
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/e2a6cfd7-64a3-4588-beb2-aa9c63adc9f4
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?
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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