Coastal ocean monitoring is critical for informing aquaculture risk management decisions including site selection, engineering specifications, and carrying capacity. Dedicated nearshore monitoring is required to capture complex coastal dynamics , which cannot be resolved by broad-scale or offshore monitoring. Understanding these coastal dynamics can make the difference between operational success and failure. Long-term data sets are also becoming increasingly valuable to prepare and understand climate change linkages to deleterious events, including unexpected low oxygen mortalities at net pens.
The Centre for Marine Applied Research (CMAR) in Nova Scotia, Canada coordinates an extensive Coastal Monitoring Program to address this fundamental data need. CMAR maintains a network of nearly 70 oceanographic moorings that measure Essential Ocean Variables (e.g., temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, sea state, currents), typically within 1 km of the coast. The resulting data products have been used by the aquaculture industry to inform site selection and engineering design and by government regulators to support lease approvals.
To our knowledge , these oceanographic data products are unique in Canadian coastal waters for their static depth profiles, time series length, and high spatial and temporal resolution needed for application to biologically driven systems such as aquaculture . CMAR has prioritized efforts to ensure these data are freely available on several platforms and in multiple formats (e.g., summary reports, processed data) to ensure maximum access and application. Additional coastal stakeholders have begun using CMAR data, and more diverse applications are expected as data sharing initiatives continue.