Two-Year Benthic Imagery Survey of St. Anns Bank Marine Protected Area

Fisheries and Oceans Canada collected 3,605 high-resolution still images and over 54 hours of video footage during a two-year benthic survey. The survey covered approximately 47 kilometers across 41 drift-camera transects within the 4,364 km² St. Anns Bank Marine Protected Area, with depths ranging from 17 to 144 meters. Imagery was captured from August 2023 to August 2024 to support monitoring of unique bathymetric features and benthoscapes.

Use Cases

• Train computer vision models on high-resolution still images to classify benthic habitats and species.
• Analyze video footage to quantify changes in seafloor composition across transect locations and depths from 17 to 144 m.
• Use transect length and distance between still images data to calculate benthic coverage and survey efficiency.
• Correlate imagery data with acoustic positioning system (APOS) coordinates to map the distribution of observed features.

Strengths

• Substantial volume of 3,605 high-resolution still images for analysis.
• Extensive temporal coverage from a two-year survey conducted in August 2023 and August 2024.
• Detailed spatial context with transects ranging from 319 m to 2.8 km in length, surveying approximately 47 km total.
• Standardized field of view (FOV) measurements derived from a subset of 500 images using 10-cm lasers for scale.

Limitations

• Positional accuracy for year-one survey data is limited as it relied on vessel position instead of the more precise acoustic system used in 2024.
• The field of view was estimated from a subset of 500 images from the first year, which may not fully represent all 3,605 images.
• No columnar metadata or sample data is provided, complicating automated analysis of the imagery and associated attributes.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Coastal Ecosystems Science Division.

Collection Method

Optical imagery benthic survey using drift-camera transects, with imagery collected via high-resolution still cameras and HD video. Transect and image locations were acquired using an acoustic positioning system (APOS) in 2024.

Time Range

August 15-23, 2023 and August 08-17, 2024.

Freshness

Data was last updated in March 2026 and captures surveys through August 2024.

Geography

St. Anns Bank Marine Protected Area (4,364 km²) and 4 coastal transects west of the MPA, Atlantic Canada.