Canada’s Oceans Now: Atlantic Ecosystems, 2022 - A changing deep-water habitat in the estuary and northern Gulf of St. Lawrence

A changing deep-water habitat in the estuary and northern Gulf of St. Lawrence

The infographic is an illustration of the near bottom environment of the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence with a deep channel running from the bottom right to top right and an underwater plateau to the left and top right. The ocean floor is sandy with some rippling and scattered rocks. At the top left of the infographic is a white box with blue text with the title and explanatory text:

The deep channels in the estuary and northern Gulf of St. Lawrence are experiencing increasing hypoxia, warming waters, and acidification. These factors can result in changes to biodiversity and the cycling of nutrients, direct loss of habitat or habitat compression, altered trophic relationships, changes in migration patterns, and a reduction in the productivity of fisheries.

Underneath the box, on the sea floor plateau crab, lobster, and shrimp are resting on the bottom On the top right side of the infographic there are three blue boxes with white text representing oceanographic stressors:

• Lower oxygen (icon of oxygen bubbles and a downward pointing arrow)
• Warmer waters (icon of a thermometer with upward pointing arrow)
• Higher acidity (snail shell with bubbles coming from the top and an upwards pointing arrow)

Each blue square connects below to an orange circles with white text indicating the impacts of each stressor:

• More physiological stress
• Loss of cold-water habitat
• Less calcium carbonate for shells
• A white arrow from each circle points down to a yellow haze on the ocean bottom.

Within the channel and it’s walls, fish, shrimp, crab, sponges and sea pens, are depicted on the sea floor and along the channel walls, but outside of the yellow haze.