American Shad Breeding Areas in the St. Lawrence River and Estuary

Breeding areas for American shad in the St. Lawrence River and Estuary were compiled from a literature review of documents published between 1976 and 1997. The data layer provides a spatial synthesis of known spawning locations for this fish species. It was produced by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and is available in geospatial formats including SHP and CSV.

Use Cases

• Map known breeding areas from the literature review to identify critical habitats for conservation planning.
• Analyze the spatial distribution of documented spawning sites relative to the fluvial section and estuary of the St. Lawrence.
• Integrate the SHP or CSV data layers with other environmental datasets for habitat suitability modeling.

Strengths

• Data is derived from a documented literature review spanning over 20 years, from 1976 to 1997.
• Provided in multiple standard geospatial formats (SHP, ESRI REST, CSV) for interoperability.
• Produced by the authoritative government agency Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Limitations

• The underlying literature review is temporally limited, with the most recent source document from 1997.
• The dataset's spatial accuracy and completeness are dependent on the scope and methods of the original reviewed documents.
• No information is provided on the number of distinct breeding areas (rows) or specific attribute columns.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Collection Method

Compilation from a literature review of scientific and technical documents.

Time Range

Source documents published between 1976 and 1997.

Freshness

The metadata was last updated on March 24, 2026, but the source data compilation period ended in 1997.

Geography

St. Lawrence River and Estuary, Canada.