Atlantic Marine | |
---|---|
Ecology | |
Borders | Northwest Atlantic Marine |
Geography | |
Country | Canada |
Province | Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia |
Oceans or seas | Atlantic Ocean |
The Atlantic Marine Ecozone, as defined by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), is a Canadian marine ecozone that stretches from the Davis Strait to encompass the Grand Banks, to the Avalon Peninsula on the shores of Newfoundland. It includes all of the southern coast of Newfoundland, all the eastern coast of Nova Scotia, and portions of the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of Maine.
Most of the waters in this zone are thousands of metres deep, [1] with the exception of the Grand Banks, which average about 150 metres before the sea floor drops precipitously beyond the continental shelf.
Exceptionally dense fog is common where the cold Labrador Current merges with the warm Gulf Stream. [2] By late winter, thick icebergs traverse the northern regions of this ecozone, from Greenland to Newfoundland. They have been feared by mariners for centuries, as well as being responsible for one of the deadliest disasters in maritime history, the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912. [3] This resulted in the zone's colloquial name "Iceberg Alley". [4] Tidal ranges throughout the zone are moderate, typically a few metres. The exception is the Bay of Fundy, whose famous tides may top 15 metres. [2]
Surface water temperatures in August may reach 10 °C in the north, and up to 23 °C in the south.
In spring, phytoplankton biomass increases significantly, becoming a rich source of food within the ecozone. [5]
The waters of this zone have been overfished, and in 1992 the Government of Canada banned cod fishing, though there are no restrictions on other species. Shellfish species, including lobster, shrimp, and crab, have become an increasing component of the fishing industry, which has been in decline. [6]
Since the late 1990s, the Hibernia oil field has become an important economic resource for Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Terra Nova oil field is increasingly important to Nova Scotia. Further oil and gas exploration is being conducted on the Scotian Shelf. [6]
The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island (PEI). The Maritimes had a population of 1,813,606 in 2016, which makes up 5.6% of Canada's population. Together with Canada's easternmost province, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Maritime provinces make up the region of Atlantic Canada.
The Gulf of St. Lawrence is the outlet of the North American Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean. The gulf is a semi-enclosed sea, covering an area of about 226,000 square kilometres (87,000 sq mi) and containing about 34,500 cubic kilometres (8,300 cu mi) of water, which results in an average depth of 152 metres (499 ft).
The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a series of underwater plateaus south-east of the island of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. The Grand Banks are one of the world's richest fishing grounds, supporting Atlantic cod, swordfish, haddock and capelin, as well as shellfish, seabirds and sea mammals.
Marine Atlantic Inc. is an independent Canadian federal Crown corporation which is mandated to operate ferry services between the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.
Machias Seal Island is an island in disputed water between the Gulf of Maine and the Bay of Fundy, about 16 km (10 mi) southeast from Cutler, Maine, and 19 km (12 mi) southwest of Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick. Sovereignty of the island is disputed by the United States and Canada. The Canadian Coast Guard continues to staff a lighthouse on the island; the first lighthouse was constructed there in 1832.
The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America. It is bounded by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and by Cape Sable Island at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northeast. The gulf includes the entire coastlines of the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Maine, as well as Massachusetts north of Cape Cod, and the southern and western coastlines of the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, respectively.
Channel-Port aux Basques is a town at the extreme southwestern tip of Newfoundland fronting on the western end of the Cabot Strait. A Marine Atlantic ferry terminal is located in the town which is the primary entry point onto the island of Newfoundland and the western terminus of the Newfoundland and Labrador Route 1 in the province. The town was incorporated in 1945 and its population in the 2016 census was 4,067.
Georges Bank is a large elevated area of the sea floor between Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia (Canada). It separates the Gulf of Maine from the Atlantic Ocean.
The Labrador Current is a cold current in the North Atlantic Ocean which flows from the Arctic Ocean south along the coast of Labrador and passes around Newfoundland, continuing south along the east coast of Canada near Nova Scotia. Near Nova Scotia, this cold water current meets the warm northward moving Gulf Stream. The combination of these two currents produces heavy fogs and has also created one of the richest fishing grounds in the world.
Nova Scotia is a province located in Eastern Canada fronting the Atlantic Ocean. One of the Maritime Provinces, Nova Scotia's geography is complex, despite its relatively small size in comparison to other Canadian provinces.
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province in Canada. The Strait of Belle Isle separates the province into two geographical divisions, Labrador and the island of Newfoundland. The province also includes over seven thousand small islands.
Canada's early petroleum discoveries took place near population centres or along lines of penetration into the frontier.
The Arctic Archipelago Marine Ecozone, as defined by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), is a marine ecozone in the Canadian Arctic, encompassing Hudson Bay, James Bay, the internal waters and some shores of the islands in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and the shores of the territories, northern Ontario and western Quebec. Early exploration of these waters by Europeans were conducted to find a passage to the Orient, now referred to as the Northwest Passage.
The Atlantic Maritime Ecozone, as defined by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), is an ecozone which covers the Canadian provinces of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, as well as the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. It is adjacent to the Atlantic Marine Ecozone to the east, and the Mixedwood Plains to the west. The roughly-corresponding Level I Ecoregion to this ecozone in the United States Environmental Protection Agency's classification, which is also part of the CEC system, is the Northern Forests ecoregion, though that classification includes the woodlands and swamps of northern Michigan and Minnesota, which are adjacent to the Boreal Shield ecozone.
The Arctic Basin Marine Ecozone, as defined by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), is a Canadian marine ecozone encompassing the northwestern areas of waters on the Arctic continental shelf. It is bitterly cold and permanently covered in ice. Polar nights and the midnight sun may last months in this region, which has come to characterize the stereotype of the north. Its only land contact is with the northern coast of Ellesmere Island. Because of this, there are no inhabitants in this zone. All human activity here involves scientific excursions, petroleum exploration, rare hunting groups and extreme adventurers.
The Northwest Atlantic Marine Ecozone, as defined by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), is a Canadian marine ecozone forming a transitional region between the cold northern waters of the Arctic Ocean and the more temperate waters in its southern extent.
The Fogo Seamounts, also called the Fogo Seamount Chain, are a group of undersea mountains southeast of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic Ocean. This seamount chain, lying approximately 500 km (310 mi) offshore from the island of Newfoundland, consists of several submarine volcanoes that have been extinct for millions of years. They are one of the few seamount chains located in Canadian waters off the coast of Atlantic Canada.
Cod fisheries are fisheries for cod. Cod is the common name for fish of the genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and this article is confined to three species that belong to this genus: the Atlantic cod, the Pacific cod and the Greenland cod. Although there is a fourth species of the cod genus Gadus, Alaska pollock, it is commonly not called cod and therefore currently not covered here.
The Orphan Basin is an area approximately 400 km east-north-east of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada. Two exploratory oil wells have been drilled there as it is estimated to have oil reserves of 6-8 billion barrels. Chevron intends to drill a third well in 2012.