Eelgrass Bed Mapping in New Brunswick Estuaries via Sidescan and Video

Fisheries and Oceans Canada collected sidescan and video data to map eelgrass beds in two shallow northern New Brunswick estuaries during 2007. The survey documented suspected impacts of oyster aquaculture gear and eutrophication on eelgrass, achieving a mapping rate of nearly 10 square kilometers per day. This method proved more efficient than SCUBA-based surveys for bay-scale assessment.

Use Cases

• Analyze sidescan and video data to map the spatial extent and health of eelgrass beds in the surveyed estuaries.
• Correlate observed eelgrass conditions with proximity to oyster aquaculture gear to assess potential anthropogenic impacts.
• Use the geospatial data to study the relationship between eutrophication indicators and eelgrass bed density or distribution.
• Compare the efficiency and coverage of this towfish-based mapping method against traditional SCUBA survey data for similar ecosystems.

Strengths

• Data collection achieved a high mapping rate of nearly 10 square kilometers per day.
• Dataset includes multiple complementary data formats: ESRI REST, PDF, TIFF, CSV, and FGDB/GDB.
• Focuses on a specific ecological assessment in two distinct northern New Brunswick estuaries.

Limitations

• Data is from a single year (2007), limiting analysis of temporal trends or recent changes.
• The specific row count, column structure, and sample data are unavailable, hindering immediate analytical understanding.
• Geographic scope is limited to two specific estuaries, which may not be representative of other regions.

Provenance

Source

Coastal Ecosystems Science Division, Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Collection Method

Data gathered using a towfish containing sidescan and video hardware, deployed from a boat with a three-person crew.

Time Range

2007

Freshness

Data was originally published in November 2019 and last updated in March 2026, though the underlying survey was conducted in 2007.

Geography

Two shallow estuaries in northern New Brunswick, Canada.