NET Force

This initiative will be achieved by:

• Successfully engaging and consulting with other partners to develop and implement agreements, a plan and a strategy for NET Force.

• Disseminating and implementing the plan and strategy by identifying and consolidating eelgrass partners, available data, data products and tools,

• Conducting research to appropriately integrate data and data products into a common format,

• Creating a dynamic national map of eelgrass extent, with interactive material for educating the public.

For more information, see our Technical Report: National Eelgrass Task (NET) force : engagement in support of a dynamic map of eelgrass distribution in Canada to support monitoring, research and decision making (dfo-mpo.gc.ca)

Eelgrass provides vital ecosystem services, including carbon storage, fisheries maintenance, and shoreline protection. To ensure their continued provision of ecosystem services, a comprehensive, publically accessible national map of Canada’s eelgrass is necessary to:

• Facilitate targeted monitoring and surveillance,

• Develop and provide advice to support collective decision-making for aspects related to blue economy, aquaculture siting, marine spatial planning, fisheries act violations, environmental response, conservation planning, maintaining natural environment, and responding to environmental incidents.

Multiple stakeholders are conducting independent initiatives to better map the distribution of eelgrass in Canada’s coastlines at different spatial scales, using various approaches. Recognizing the ecological and socio-economic benefits that eelgrass beds provide in coastal ecosystems, there is a national interest in combining efforts to achieve a comprehensive national eelgrass map. We hope these would be based upon the principles of open, reproducible, and collaborative science based on tools to analyze, map, visualize, and update eelgrass data.

The National Eelgrass Task (NET) Force was proposed in 2020 as a forum for diverse stakeholders actively working on eelgrass mapping related projects and activities to share information and tools to achieve a comprehensive national eelgrass map for Canada. The goal of the NET Force is to leverage eelgrass initiatives and projects currently underway, as well as data already collected/available to facilitate coordination of efforts. Topics of discussion will include eelgrass data accessibility, integration and access, use of open and reproducible tools for eelgrass data access.