Community Aquatic Monitoring Program (CAMP) Data for the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence

Oxygen Nutrients Sea Surface Salinity Sea Surface Temperature Fish abundance and distribution Seagrass cover and composition Macroalgal canopy cover and composition Invertebrate abundance and distribution

Each summer, environmental groups collect data to determine if groupings of fish, shrimp and crab – what is called a community – can be used as an indicator of the health status of bays and estuaries. Sampling was conducted from May through September for the first years then from June through August. Data for the years 2004 to 2019 are available. In 2018 and 2019, the sampling was conducted just once in each estuary. Community group members and staff sample six stations once a month in their designated estuary.

Fish, shrimps and crabs are collected with a beach seine net and later released live back to the water once identified and counted. From this, the community groups provide important information to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, including:

identification and numbers of fish, shrimp and crab species
water conditions and samples
information on aquatic plants
sediment samples

With this information, Fisheries and Oceans Canada scientists working with government agencies and Universities can conduct analyses to determine the suitability of indicators to assess the health of bays and estuaries.

Data and resources

Open Data Canada

Link to the original dataset published on the Open Data Canada portal

HTML Open
dfo-mpo_psca-camp_event_2004-2019.csv

File in DwC format on sampling events carried out as part of the Aquatic Community Monitoring Program (PSCA) in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence.

CSV Open
dfo-mpo_psca-camp_event-emof_2004-2019.csv

File in DwC format on abiotic measurements collected during the various sampling events.

CSV Open
dfo-mpo_psca-camp_occurrence_2004-2019.csv

File in DwC format on the occurrences of different species of fish, shrimps and crabs caught during sampling events.

CSV Open
dfo-mpo_psca-camp_occurrence-emof_2004-2019.csv

File in DwC format on the total quantities of individuals, juveniles and adults that were collected during the various sampling events.

CSV Open

Additional information

Temporal extent	2004-01-01 – 2019-12-31
Vertical extent	0.0 – 0.0 m
Date (creation)	2004-01-01
Date (publication)	2020-11-13
Date (revision)	2023-05-09
Status	onGoing
Update frequency	asNeeded
Metadata language	fr
License	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Source metadata	ISO 19115 XML
Last updated	2026-07-31
Created	2026-07-31
API	package_show