Benthic imagery from nearshore drop camera surveys along Eastern Shore (Nova Scotia, Canada) to characterize shallow subtidal habitats

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) conducted nearshore drop camera surveys between 2019 and 2020 to characterize the distribution and abundance of seagrass, kelp, and other benthic macroalgae along the Eastern Shore of mainland Nova Scotia. Surveys were designed to address data gaps and support mapping work (species distribution modelling, remote sensing) to inform conservation and marine spatial planning in the Eastern Shore Islands Area of Interest and Goldboro area. Still images extracted from video transects were analyzed to evaluate the abundance (% cover) of eelgrass (Zostera marina), 8 species or genera of large brown macroalgae (Saccharina latissima, Laminaria digitata, Agarum clathratum, Alaria esculenta, Saccorhiza dermatodea, Desmarestia spp., Fucus spp., Ascophyllum nodosum), an invasive green alga (Codium fragile ssp. fragile), 5 functional groups of benthic macroalgae (filamentous turf algae, coarsely-branched turf algae, articulated coralline algae, encrusting algae, and foliose algae), detrital material, and 5 bare substrate cover categories (mud/sand, pebbles, cobbles, boulders, bedrock). In this Version 1, we report general geolocations and image labels describing the dominant cover component per image. Specific locations will be provided in a future update.