Northwest Atlantic Vessel Density Maps from 2013 to 2022

2013-2022 AIS data from Fisheries and Oceans Canada provides a pre- and post-pandemic view of maritime traffic. The dataset consists of yearly and monthly vessel density maps for all vessel classes combined, plus yearly maps for individual vessel classes. It is part of an ongoing series, with subsequent years to be added.

Use Cases

• Analyze temporal trends in shipping density from 2013 to 2022 to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on maritime transport.
• Compare yearly vessel density maps for specific vessel classes to identify shifts in commercial or passenger shipping lanes.
• Use monthly vessel density maps for spatial analysis to support marine spatial planning and environmental impact assessments.
• Integrate the 2019 pre-pandemic vessel density depiction as a baseline for modeling changes in the Northwest Atlantic maritime sector.

Strengths

• Provides a 10-year time series from 2013 to 2022, enabling longitudinal analysis of shipping patterns.
• Includes both combined and class-specific vessel density maps, allowing for granular traffic analysis.
• Data is part of an ongoing series, with future updates planned to extend the temporal coverage.

Limitations

• Data is provided as processed maps (PNG, PDF, HTML), not raw AIS point data, limiting analytical flexibility.
• The spatial coverage is restricted to the Northwest Atlantic, which may not be representative of global shipping patterns.
• The update frequency is not specified, so the most recent year available may lag behind real-time conditions.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Collection Method

Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis of Automatic Identification System (AIS) data.

Time Range

2013 to 2022, with 2019 highlighted as a pre-pandemic baseline.

Freshness

Last updated entry on 2026-03-24; subsequent years are to be processed and added as an ongoing series.

Geography

Northwest Atlantic