Subproject 5:
Ocean Data Integration

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is in the process of refocusing its scientific program to concentrate on understanding whole ecosystem processes and providing ecosystem-based advice on the impact of human activities. This process will involve the collection, analysis and understanding of complex ocean data sets from satellites and submersible vehicles, seabed characteristics from multi-beam sonar, and biological sampling (including video and other types of images). Improvements in acoustic tag technology are also allowing researchers to follow individual animals to learn about migration, feeding and reproductive behaviors.

These data sets all share the common attributes of high volumes of temporal and spatial measurements of large numbers of variables with potential for missing data and measurement errors. DFO‰Ûªs change to ecosystem research and the complexity of the data sets being collected has already placed heavy demands upon research staff for the development of, and training on, quantitative methods. DFO is currently establishing National Centres of Expertise, aimed at establishing partnerships with researchers in other agencies. This NPCDS project intends to link up and partner with this DFO initiative.