Creating Bottom Patches for Haida Gwaii, Queen Charlotte Strait and Johnstone Strait

Fisheries and Oceans Canada has a requirement for “ Creating Bottom Patches for Haida Gwaii, Queen Charlotte Strait and Johnstone Strait” services to be carried out in accordance with the Statement of Work. The services are to be performed during the period commencing upon the date of award of the contract and are to be completed by March 31st, 2015. The transportation of oil and hazardous and noxious substances is expected to increase along the west coast of Canada. In anticipation of these changes, the Government of Canada has implemented a multi-agency World Class Tanker Safety System research and development program that is dedicated to improving and strengthening the current system and emergency response. As part of this program, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Science has been tasked with mapping benthic ecosystems in areas that may be impacted by increased tanker traffic and potential spills. The mapping benthic ecosystems project entails the development and maintenance of a geo-spatial database to store and analyze marine abiotic and biotic data that vary spatially and temporally. These data will subsequently be used for analyses that predict habitat suitability for Valued Ecosystem Components (species or habitats). The resulting spatial layers (predicted habitat suitability) will be used to inform response in the event of an environmental emergency. The large extents of British Columbia’s marine waters necessitates the development of predictive models to best determine where species are located, since not all benthic habitats can be surveyed. The first step of the mapping benthic ecosystems project is to create a comprehensive reference GIS layer to provide a suitable framework for attaching other important indicators of habitat and the associated biota.