Resources

The Oceans North 2022 Annual Report provides highlights from the last year of our work in the Arctic, Atlantic and the high seas.

The Walrus News is a newsletter for the Hamlet of Salliq (Coral Harbour) that highlights new research, shares local knowledge, stories, and photos, and keeps the community informed about developments that relate to walrus and their broader habitat.

This policy brief provides key findings from a study in Nature Climate Change that developed an innovative approach to understanding the effects of climate change. The results highlight the importance of reducing emissions and lay the groundwork for climate-smart approaches to management and conservation.

The third issue of The Beluga News highlights the latest scientific research taking place in Churchill, Manitoba, including new research into how beluga calves and their mothers use the estuaries.

The Oceans North 2021 Annual Report provides highlights from the last year of our work in the Arctic, Atlantic and the high seas.

This report builds off of the Ports & Maritime Hydrogen Summit Series, held March/April 2021, which aimed to increase visibility and dialogue around the role of clean hydrogen in the maritime sector and the need to develop seaport hydrogen hubs in Canada. The report covers four major themes from the Summit Series and provides recommendations for policy-makers.

A summary version of the Oceans North report Charting a Course for Net Zero: Critical First Steps on a Hydrogen Pathway. 

This report reviews and synthesizes a wide variety of peer-reviewed and grey literature regarding the Hudson Bay marine ecosystem.

The second issue of Beluga News provides updates about our three-year study of how belugas interact with whale-watching boats in Churchill, Manitoba.

A scientific report prepared by Dr. Daniel G. Boyce on the impacts of climate change on commercial fisheries in Atlantic Canada and the Eastern Arctic. The report also examines the integration of climate change into Canadian fisheries management and provides recommendations for how to improve management in the face of climate change.

This document summarizes the findings and recommendations of Dr. Daniel Boyce’s larger report, “Incorporating Climate Change into Fisheries Management in Atlantic Canada and the Eastern Arctic.”

This document describes how ocean-based climate solutions can be incorporated into Canada’s climate policy and help Canada reach its emissions-reduction targets under the Paris Agreement.

This January 2021 acoustic monitoring report documents a substantial increase in underwater noise, at levels known to disturb narwhal, as a result of ships from Baffinland’s Mary River iron ore mine traveling through the Arctic’s Eclipse Sound. A summary of the report is available in English and Inuktitut.

The January 2021 report by Open Oil is a financial analysis of the viability of Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation’s current operations at the Mary River iron ore mine versus its proposal to double production. The Review is Open Oil’s response to Baffinland’s review of Open Oil’s January 2021 financial analysis.

This economic analysis assesses the trade-offs between short-term and long-term fishing under different management scenarios to help rebuild the Atlantic mackerel stock. The report finds that minimizing fishing now could lead to long-term economic gains in excess of $50 million.

This document summarizes the results of an economic study on the Atlantic mackerel fishery. The study shows that lowering catch levels makes sense not only for the health of the stock, but also for the long-term health of the fishery.

The first issue of the Beluga News, published Summer 2020, provides information on Churchill’s beluga whale population.

This report outlines recommendations from Oceans North about six areas where Canada’s recovery from COVID 19 can include our ocean, meet government commitments, and advance critical efforts in marine conservation to ensure resilient ecosystems and communities into the future. Canada’s stimulus efforts need to lead to a transformative future that otherwise would not have come to fruition.

Oceans North, the Conservation Council of New Brunswick and the New Brunswick chapter of Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society were interested in better understanding how Atlantic Canadians (residents of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island) perceive the state of the oceans. This report contains the results of polling that was conducted over the summer of 2019. The survey was supported by The Ocean Foundation.

This report details the outcomes of the first Atlantic Canada Environmental DNA Workshop, held at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and hosted by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Nova Scotia Salmon Association and Oceans North. It includes recommendations for future work, summaries of the presentations given and a map of past, current and future research projects involving environmental DNA in Atlantic Canada.

There is currently a proposal to expand the output of the Mary River iron ore mine in Nunavut’s Qikiqtani region. In this report, University of Manitoba economics professor John Loxley examines the current and potential benefits for regional Inuit rights holders. His findings suggest that, unless significant changes are made to the benefit regime, rapid expansion of the mine will not allow Inuit to capitalize on revenues—in particular employment income—before the resource is exhausted.

Informing Canada’s G7 Presidency: A Workshop on Global Marine Plastics Solutions, describes key findings from the workshop and recommends four categories of action: (1) foundational actions needed for success, (2) actions Canada can take at home, (3) actions the G7 can advance, and (4) actions that require broader global partnership.

Canada’s Arctic Marine Atlas, published jointly with Ducks Unlimited Canada and World Wildlife Fund Canada, offers a comprehensive look at an environment undergoing dramatic shifts due to climate change.

Western Hudson Bay is globally signification wildlife habitat, as well as the site of important historic and cultural sites. Western Hudson Bay and Its Beluga Estuaries: Protecting Abundance for a Sustainable Future advocates for a national marine conservation area in this region.

Pikialasorsuaq is the largest Arctic polynya and most biologically productive region north of the Arctic Circle. The Pikialasorsuaq Commission, made up of representatives from both sides of Baffin Bay, issued this report in 2017 with major recommendations for the conservation and management of the polynya.

The Integrated Arctic Corridors Framework proposes a comprehensive system of tiered, risk-based shipping routes, and an associated governance structure, that would integrate safe shipping, Inuit rights, and environmental protection, and provide benefit to Canada, the shipping industry, and Arctic communities.

Canada’s system of regulating and licensing offshore oil and gas development requires major reforms to create an Arctic-ready future to protect this region and its people from environmental harm.