State of Canada’s Arctic Seas Andrea Niemi, Steve Ferguson, Kevin Hedges, Humfrey Melling, Christine Michel, Burton Ayles, Kumiko Azetsu-Scott, Pierre Coupel, David Deslauriers, Emmanuel Devred, Thomas Doniol-Valcroze, Karen Dunmall, Jane Eert, Peter Galbraith, Maxime Geoffroy, Grant Gilchrist, Holly Hennin, Kimberly Howland, Manasie Kendall, Doreen Kohlbach, Ellen Lea, Lisa Loseto, Andrew Majewski, Marianne Marcoux, Cory Matthews, Darcy McNicholl, Arnaud Mosnier, C.J. Mundy, Wesley Ogloff, William Perrie, Clark Richards, Evan Richardson, James Reist, Virginie Roy, Chantelle Sawatzky, Kevin Scharffenberg, Ross Tallman, Jean-Éric Tremblay, Teresa Tufts, Cortney Watt, William Williams, Elizabeth Worden, David Yurkowski, Sarah Zimmerman Fisheries and Oceans Canada Freshwater Institute 501 University Crescent Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N6 2019 Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 3344 1 Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences Technical reports contain scientific and technical information that contributes to existing knowledge but which is not normally appropriate for primary literature. Technical reports are directed primarily toward a worldwide audience and have an international distribution. No restriction is placed on subject matter and the series reflects the broad interests and policies of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, namely, fisheries and aquatic sciences. Technical reports may be cited as full publications. 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Les demandes de rapports seront satisfaites par l'établissement auteur dont le nom figure sur la couverture et la page du titre. Les numéros 1 à 456 de cette série ont été publiés à titre de Rapports techniques de l'Office des recherches sur les pêcheries du Canada. Les numéros 457 à 714 sont parus à titre de Rapports techniques de la Direction générale de la recherche et du développement, Service des pêches et de la mer, ministère de l'Environnement. Les numéros 715 à 924 ont été publiés à titre de Rapports techniques du Service des pêches et de la mer, ministère des Pêches et de l'Environnement. Le nom actuel de la série a été établi lors de la parution du numéro 925. Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 3344 2019 State of Canada’s Arctic Seas by A. Niemi1, S. Ferguson1, K. Hedges1, H. Melling2, C. Michel1, B. Ayles3, K. Azetsu-Scott4, P. Coupel4, D. Deslauriers1, E. Devred4, T. Doniol-Valcroze5, K. Dunmall1, J. Eert2, P. Galbraith6, M. Geoffroy7, G. Gilchrist8, H. Hennin8, K. Howland1, M. Kendall9, D. Kohlbach1, E. Lea10, L. Loseto1, A. Majewski1, M. Marcoux1, C. Matthews1, D. McNicholl1, A. Mosnier6, C.J. Mundy11, W. Ogloff1, W. Perrie4, C. Richards4, E. Richardson12, J. Reist1, V. Roy6, C. Sawatzky1, K. Scharffenberg1, R. Tallman1, J-É. Tremblay13, T. Tufts9, C. Watt1, B. Williams2, E. Worden1, D. Yurkowski1, S. Zimmerman2 1 Fisheries and Ocean Canada, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N6 2 Fisheries and Ocean Canada, Sidney, BC V8L 5T5 3 Fisheries Joint Management Committee, Inuvik, NT, X0E 0T0 4 Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth, NS B2Y 4A2 5 Fisheries and Ocean Canada, Nanaimo, BC, V9T 6N7 6 Fisheries and Ocean Canada, Mont-Joli, PQ, G5H 3Z4 7 Memorial University, St. John's, NL, A1C 5R3 8 Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0H3 9 Fisheries and Sealing, Government of Nunavut, Iqaluit, NU, X0A 0H0 10 Fisheries and Ocean Canada, Inuvik, NT, X0E 0T0 11 University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2M6 12 Environment and Climate Change Canada, Winnipeg, MB, R3C 4W2 13 Université Laval, Québec, PQ, G1V 0A6 © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 2019. Cat. No. Fs97-6/3344E-PDF ISBN 978-0-660-33171-3 ISSN 1488-5379 Correct citation for this publication: Niemi, A., Ferguson, S., Hedges, K., Melling, H., Michel, C., Ayles, B., Azetsu-Scott, K., Coupel, P., Deslauriers, D., Devred, E., Doniol-Valcroze, T., Dunmall, K., Eert, J., Galbraith, P., Geoffroy, M., Gilchrist, G., Hennin, H., Howland, K., Kendall, M., Kohlbach, D., Lea, E., Loseto, L., Majewski, A., Marcoux, M., Matthews, C., McNicholl, D., Mosnier, A., Mundy, C.J., Ogloff, W., Perrie, W., Richards, C., Richardson, E., Reist, R., Roy, V., Sawatzky, C., Scharffenberg, K., Tallman, R., Tremblay, J-É., Tufts, T., Watt, C., Williams, W., Worden, E., Yurkowski, D., Zimmerman, S. 2019. State of Canada’s Arctic Seas. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 3344: xv + 189 p. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... vi ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. xiii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... xv 1.0 Ocean Reporting ....................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 What We Need to Describe the State of the Canadian Arctic Ocean ................................... 1 1.2 Boundaries of the Arctic Ocean Report ................................................................................ 2 CASE STUDY 1: What’s So Special about the Canadian Arctic Region? ................................ 4 2.0 Key Messages ........................................................................................................................... 6 3.0 Stressors of Arctic Ocean ecosystems .................................................................................... 12 3.1 Modelling and Risk Assessment for Species Introductions in the Arctic ........................... 15 CASE STUDY 2: Ocean Acidification in the Canadian Arctic ............................................... 17 CASE STUDY 3: The Changing Soundscape of the Arctic ..................................................... 19 CASE STUDY 4: An Extreme Warm Event in Hudson Bay and Ringed Seal Response........ 21 4.0 Structure of the Arctic Ocean ecosystem ................................................................................ 24 4.1 Where Life Lives: The Ocean Environment of the Arctic .................................................. 25 4.1.1 Oceanographic Boundaries of the Arctic ..................................................................... 25 4.1.2 The Submarine Landscape ........................................................................................... 25 4.1.3 Seawater Sources ......................................................................................................... 26 4.1.4 Seawater Movement..................................................................................................... 27 4.1.5 Sea Ice .......................................................................................................................... 28 4.1.6 Tides ............................................................................................................................. 32 CASE STUDY 5: Nunavut Community Observations of Coastal Sea-ice Change .................. 33 4.2 Overview of Nutrients, the Building Blocks for Ecosystem Productivity .......................... 35 4.3 Overview of Arctic Food Webs .......................................................................................... 37 CASE STUDY 6: Changing Food Webs in Cumberland Sound .............................................. 39 CASE STUDY 7: The Changing Sea Ice Ecosystem ............................................................... 41 4.4 Habitat Linkages ................................................................................................................. 43 4.4.1. Sea Ice ........................................................................................................................