Canada’s State of the Oceans Report, 2012

Summary

Introduction

The Centre of Expertise on State of the Oceans Reporting created this national report for the final stage of the Health of the Oceans Initiative (HOTO) under which it was first funded. It consists of highlights from the regional reports on Large Ocean Management Areas (LOMAs), created under the five-year (2007-2012) initiative. The initiative focused on: establishing new marine protected areas, enhancing our pollution prevention and response measures through improved surveillance, enforcement and containment, and collaboration with partners on matters in ocean and trans-boundary waters, including the Arctic and the Gulf of Maine.

Scope of the National Report

Canada’s State of the Oceans Report 2012 presents highlights from regional reports on the five Large Ocean Management Areas established under the HOTO initiative, organized around themes. The availability of long term data sets and analysis varied, and in a few cases, there is either no information or very little information reported on certain themes from some of the Large Ocean Management Areas in this report (e.g., Beaufort Sea). Alternatively, there are also much more extensive theme-based reports published on the state of the Scotian Shelf area, which is particularly well studied.

–Excerpt from the Report