Marine Organism Observations from Coastal Underwater Imagery in St. Lawrence (2017-2021)

21,490 occurrences of 150 marine taxa were identified from 2,959 underwater images sampled in the shallow coastal zone of the St. Lawrence Estuary and Gulf. Data were collected between 2017 and 2021 using a GoPro camera on a pole from a small boat, primarily to validate coastal mapping of seaweed and eelgrass beds. The dataset is structured in complementary DarwinCore files linked by an eventID key, with taxonomic names verified against the World Register of Marine Species.

Use Cases

• Analyze the distribution of 150 taxa across the event_information file's date and location fields to model biodiversity changes in the St. Lawrence coastal zone.
• Use the verbatimIdentification and scientificNameID fields in the taxon_occurrence file to validate automated taxonomic matching pipelines against the WoRMS standard.
• Map species occurrences by linking taxon_occurrence records to geographic coordinates in the event_information file via the eventID key for spatial ecology studies.
• Study the composition of macroalgae, invertebrate, and fish communities recorded in 2,959 sampling events to assess habitat sensitivity for oil spill response planning.

Strengths

• Contains 21,490 species occurrence records, providing a substantial baseline for coastal biodiversity analysis.
• Taxonomic names are verified against the World Register of Marine Species, with matches recorded in the scientificNameID field for reliability.
• Data spans a 5-year time range (2017-2021) and a large geographic extent of the St. Lawrence Estuary and Gulf coastal zone.
• Sampling methodology is documented, using 2,959 underwater images collected via a standardized protocol with a GoPro Hero camera.

Limitations

• Additional recorded data like visibility index, substrate type, and estimated cover are not included in this dataset and require a separate request.
• The accompanying visual dictionary for identification is currently available only in French, which may limit use for English-only practitioners.
• Sampling was directed primarily at mapping seaweed and eelgrass beds, which may introduce bias in the observed taxa towards those habitats.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, collected under the Planning for an Environmental Response (PIER) initiative of the Oceans Protection Plan.

Collection Method

Underwater images were recorded as videos using a GoPro Hero camera on a pole from a small boat, with organisms identified from 2,959 sampled images.

Time Range

2017 to 2021

Freshness

Data covers 2017-2021; metadata was last updated in March 2026.

Geography

Coastal zone (≤10 m depth) of the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence, Quebec region, Canada.