IMIS

Abstract: The AZMP was implemented in 1998 with the aim of collecting and analyzing the biological, chemical, and physical data to detect and monitor seasonal and interannual variability in eastern Canadian waters. The key element of the AZMP sampling strategy is the oceanographic sampling at fixed stations (every two weeks, conditions permitting) and along sections (1-3 times per year). Field sampling and laboratory analyses are carried out following well-established common protocols. As part of AZMP, the Maritimes Region is responsible for three fixed stations that are sampled once to twice monthly during ice-free season: Shediac Valley, in the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, Halifax Station 2, on the central Scotian Shelf, and Prince-5, in the western Bay of Fundy. Four sections are sampled twice yearly (spring and fall): Cabot Strait Line, Louisbourg Line, Halifax Line, and Brown’s Bank Line. In addition to the fixed stations and sections, AZMP Maritimes collects physical, chemical and biological samples on the ecosystem trawl (groundfish) surveys: Georges Bank in winter, eastern Scotian Shelf in spring, Scotian Shelf and Bay of Fundy in summer and Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence in fall. Purpose: A comprehensive environmental monitoring program, building on existing monitoring activities, was designed and implemented in 1999 for the northwestern Atlantic with the aim of increasing the Department of Fisheries and Ocean's (DFO) capacity to understand, describe, and forecast the state of the ocean environment and marine ecosystem and to relate those changes to the predator-prey relationships of marine resources. Environmental monitoring should provide the data sets that are necessary to: (1) track and predict changes in productivity and ocean state; (2) respond to immediate questions posed by clients; (3) alert clients to short- and long-term environmental/ecosystem changes; and (4) provide adequate historical databases to address future issues. For example, environmental monitoring is needed to understand environment-fisheries interactions; to detect trends in climate changes as a basis for rational predictions; to validate oceanographic models; and to provide historical and on-line data for development and exploitation activities in fisheries, oil and gas, and marine transportation