Canada's Alternate Ballast Water Exchange Areas for Maritime Safety

Transport Canada provides geospatial data identifying designated alternate ballast water exchange areas for vessels entering Canadian jurisdiction. The dataset covers four key maritime regions: the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Atlantic Canada-Western Canada, the Canadian Eastern Arctic, and the Canadian Western Arctic. It is intended for regulatory illustration, not for navigation or legal purposes.

Use Cases

• Analyze the spatial distribution of designated exchange areas like the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Canadian Western Arctic for maritime regulatory compliance.
• Map the polygon boundaries of the Canadian Eastern Arctic and Atlantic Canada-Western Canada areas for environmental protection planning.
• Reference the geospatial data on the four listed maritime regions for educational or policy documentation related to ballast water management.

Strengths

• Data is provided by Transport Canada, the authoritative national agency for marine transportation.
• Covers four distinct maritime regions of Canada, offering broad geographic coverage.
• The dataset was last updated in March 2026, indicating recent maintenance.

Limitations

• The data is explicitly not intended for navigation or legal purposes, limiting its practical application.
• Specific technical details like polygon count, coordinate reference system, or attribute columns are not provided in the input.
• Available file formats like FGDB and ESRI REST may require specialized GIS software to use.

Provenance

Source

Transport Canada

Freshness

2026-03-24

Geography

Canadian maritime jurisdiction, including the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Atlantic/Western Canada, and Eastern/Western Arctic regions.