Benthic Imagery from Three-Year Drift Survey in Bay of Fundy

73 drift-camera transects collected 5,081 high-resolution still images and approximately 60 hours of HD video from 2022 to 2024. The survey covered ~47 km of seafloor in the Fundy Isles region at depths from 15 to 188 meters. Imagery was captured to assess benthic habitats within an Ecologically and Biologically Significant Area.

Use Cases

• Analyze high-resolution still images for benthic species identification and habitat classification across 73 transects.
• Process continuous HD video footage to map seafloor coverage and observe temporal changes in benthic communities.
• Use calculated transect length and distance between still images to quantify spatial distribution of observed features.
• Estimate field of view (FOV) from laser-scaled image subsets to standardize measurements of benthic organisms.
• Correlate transect locations with bathymetric features and predicted habitat suitability for vulnerable marine ecosystems.

Strengths

• Contains 5,081 high-resolution still images with standardized field-of-view estimates from a subset of 863 images.
• Includes approximately 60 hours of continuous HD video (30 hours downward-facing, 30 hours forward-facing).
• Surveys a significant spatial extent with 73 transects totaling ~47 km in length, ranging from 133 m to 2.6 km each.
• Covers a three-year temporal range from September 2022 to October 2024, providing repeated observations.

Limitations

• Sample size for field-of-view calibration is limited to a subset of 863 images out of 5,081 total stills.
• Transect locations were non-random, selected based on specific bathymetric features and predicted habitats, which may introduce sampling bias.
• Depth range is wide (15-188 m), but the distribution of samples across this range is not specified, potentially creating gaps.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Coastal Ecosystems Science Division.

Collection Method

Optical imagery benthic survey using drift-camera transects; distance and FOV calculated with ArcGIS and ImageJ2 tools.

Time Range

September 21, 2022 to October 3, 2024.

Freshness

Data collection concluded in October 2024; metadata was last updated in March 2026.

Geography

Fundy Isles region of the lower, western Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, Canada, including the Head Harbour/West Isles Archipelago/The Passages EBSA (~113 km²), Wolves Islands, and Grand Manan Island.