Horizontal initiative - Oceans Protection Plan

Transport Canada

Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Canadian Coast Guard

Environment and Climate Change Canada

Protecting Coasts and Waterways

1 The difference in spending when compared to the initial allocated budget is primarily attributable to adjustments in timelines for a number of large capital projects. These adjustments were required once detailed planning was completed to manage the overall project complexity and minimize the execution risk.

Pillar 1- Initiatives involved in enhancing the prevention of marine incidents include:

• New information-sharing systems - the Government of Canada will work with Indigenous and coastal communities to design new information-sharing systems and platforms so they have access to real-time information on marine shipping activities to support safer navigation in local waters.
• Pilot project to enhance marine weather services to support marine traffic operations and improve safety in higher-risk areas.
• Proactive Vessel Management - allow those involved in the marine safety system – governments, communities, Indigenous groups – to inform local traffic management.
• Safer resupply in Arctic communities – funding new tools and equipment to unload essential goods in northern communities.
• Stronger polluter-pay principle – remove the per-incident limit of liability on Canada's Ship-Source Oil Pollution Fund to provide unlimited compensation to responders and victims of a ship-source oil spill.
• Places of refuge: Pre-identifying potential coastal locations where a ship in need of assistance can take action to stabilize the condition of the vessel in order to protect human life and the environment. The department is revising its National Places of Refuge Contingency Plan based on the results of engagement activities, research and the addition of new regional annexes.
• Anchorages Initiative - Research and analyze the environmental, economic, social, safety and security impacts of anchorages.
• Seamless Regime Response – develop a broad and integrated framework for preparedness and response to all spills beyond ship-source oil.
  Initiatives involved in strengthening of responses to marine incidents include:
• A stronger Canadian Coast Guard - The Canadian Coast Guard's command systems will be strengthened where gaps have been identified. The Coast Guard will be given greater power to intervene directly to prevent marine incidents, such as where ship operators have been reluctant to act.
• Increased emergency response: establish 24/7 response capacity to effectively manage marine incidents; improve ocean and environmental modeling capacity; and collect baseline environmental data on B.C.'s North Coast.
• Enhance ECCC's capacity to enforce wildlife and environmental laws for the east and west coasts.
• Increased towing capacity - towing kits will be added to major Canadian Coast Guard vessels on the east and west to improve the capability to take swift action. Two new vessels will be leased with the ability to tow large commercial ships in distress.
• Alternative response measures (ARMs) – research and policy on ARMs – such as dispersants and in-situ burning – work to support the legal and operational framework, supported by science, to allow the use of Alternative Response Measures.

TC: $56,825,666

DFO/CCG: $186,648,525

ECCC: $13,076,108

Total: $256.550,299

TC: $44,065,473

DFO/CCG: $143,811,771

ECCC: $11,916,577

Total:
$199,793,821

To better prevent marine accidents and ship-source pollution, we have:

• Updated the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 and the Marine Liability Act to:
  • improve the way we protect marine ecosystems from the impacts of shipping.
  • strengthen the Canadian Coast Guard's authorities to respond to ship-source pollution incidents more proactively, quickly, and effectively.
• Modernized Canada's Ship-Source Oil Pollution Fund so unlimited compensation is available to those affected and funding and compensation can be issued quicker. Compensation is paid for by the polluter.
• Finished an independent review of the Pilotage Act and introduced legislative updates to the Act, which governs marine pilotage in Canada. These updates received Royal Assent on June 21, 2019. Marine pilotage is the service by which marine pilots take control of a vessel and navigate it through ports, straits, lakes, rivers, and other waterways. The updated Act supports Canada's excellent pilotage safety record and strengthens the pilotage system by introducing more consistency, efficiency, and transparency.
• Facilitated the Royal Assent for the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act on June 21, 2019, making it illegal for oil tankers to stop, load, or unload large quantities of crude or persistent oil products in northern British Columbia.

New legislation aren't the only steps we've taken. Operationally, we have:

• Improved navigation products and services for mariners in important coastal areas, the Arctic, and high-traffic commercial ports and waterways. These improvements help mariners operate their vessel in a safer manner, using the latest information from the Canadian Hydrographic Service.

  This work includes:

  • completing hydrographic surveys for 23 high-priority commercial ports and releasing 33 new or updated Electronic Navigation Charts (ENCs).
  • increasing the modern hydrographic coverage in the Arctic's primary and secondary low impact shipping corridors from 23.2% to 42.5%.
  • completing multiple LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and multi-beam surveys for high-risk near-shore areas on the coasts of:
    • British Columbia
    • Newfoundland and Labrador
    • the Gulf of St. Lawrence
    • the Great Lakes Basin
  • developing new and improved capabilities as foundation to providing mariners with dynamic electronic navigational services, including high resolution bathymetry and forecast water levels and surface currents, based on both the development of state of the art, high resolution port and waterway models for:
    • Kitimat
    • Vancouver
    • Fraser River
    • Straits of Canso
    • Saint John's
    • the St. Lawrence River Quebec-Montreal Corridor
  • refurbishing 94 existing Permanent Water Level Network stations for tide and water level monitoring. This included new electronics, sensors and new or refurbished infrastructure (buildings, stilling wells, mounts) to provide improved data quality, availability, and level of service.
  • developing and releasing the Integrated Water Level Service (IWLS) - a web and app-based application to provide public users with near real-time, standardized and automated quality-controlled water level and current data. Tides, currents, and water levels

• Demonstrated improved weather services (PDF, 214 KB) for mariners by developing local forecasts for the coming 12 to 24 hours periods. These forecasts used high-resolution weather models, supported by dedicated buoys with weather instruments in high-risk areas like ports, harbours, and busy shipping lanes. This information reduces weather-related risks to mariners.

  This work also includes:

  • deploying 5 new, state-of-the-art weather buoys: 2 in Nova Scotia's Strait of Canso, 1 in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick's Bay of Fundy, and 2 in British Columbia's Georgia Strait.
  • launching a Marine Weather Information Services website which presents the new local forecasts, buoy data, and forecaster notes. While deployed, the buoys collect and transmit hourly weather and wave data 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• Announced 8 new radar sites in Atlantic Canada and British Columbia to improve coastal coverage and tracking for marine traffic. This work reduces navigational risks to mariners.
• Worked with Indigenous partners to develop the Enhanced Maritime Situational Awareness (EMSA) system. The system helps Indigenous partners, coastal communities, and stakeholders make evidence-based decisions by promoting collaboration and providing near real-time information about the marine environment. Local data available through EMSA system includes vessel traffic, weather, hydrography, sensitive ecological areas, and local historical knowledge of the waterways.
  • In 2020, Transport Canada ran 55 demos and 57 training sessions to improve and encourage use of the EMSA system. To date, nearly 600 licenses have been issued to Indigenous partners, coastal communities, and stakeholders across Canada.
  • From 2018 until March 31, 2022, we provided nearly $11 million in contribution funding for 24 EMSA-related consultation projects with Indigenous groups, research organizations and port authorities.
• Piloted projects with Indigenous and coastal communities, marine stakeholders, researchers, and maritime authorities in the Arctic and northern British Columbia to make local waterways safer, including:
  • issuing a Notice to Mariners in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, that advises icebreakers when community members are travelling on frozen waterways to hunt caribou.
  • issuing a Notice to Mariners in the Beaufort Sea and Amundson Gulf within the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Northwest Territories that aims to minimize the risks of vessel collisions and potential impacts of underwater noise on beluga and bowhead whales.
  • implementing a voluntary protection zone on the west coast of Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, to help reduce the risk and impact of marine incidents while improving response times to a disabled vessel.
• Completed the following updates on environmental sensitivities data:
  • Completed analyses and developed emergency preparedness and response spatial products from tracking studies on eight priority marine bird species.
  • Integrated coastal shoreline imagery into open data platforms (ECCC Data Catalogue and Government of Canada Open Data).
  • Integrated at-sea marine bird abundance and distribution information into active incident responses in coastal BC.
  • Initiated a review of the costs and benefits of spill-treating agents to marine birds.
• Created a permanent Canadian mission at the International Maritime Organization. This improves Canada's ability to lead internationally on marine safety, security, and environmental issues.
• Finished and released a regional risk assessment to identify and analyze the risk of ship-source oil spills in northern British Columbia.
• Purchased tools and trained workers so they can complete marine shipping-related risk assessments in coastal areas.
• Under the Anchorages Initiative, conducted outreach with coastal communities and Indigenous groups and gathered feedback from key partners on managing anchorages outside of public ports in southern British Columbia.

Several actions have been taken to strengthen Canada's ability to prevent marine accidents and ship-sourced pollution specifically in Canada's North, including:

• Introduced Arctic Shipping Safety and Pollution Prevention Regulations to address the unique hazards faced by vessels in the Arctic.
• Put in place the International Maritime Organization's International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters in Canada (also known as the “Polar Code”). The Polar Code establishes mandatory measures for marine shipping safety and pollution prevention in the Arctic. It also provided funding to the International Maritime Organization to hold regional train-the-trainer workshops on the Polar Code. The first of 4 workshops were held in Canada in September 2019.
• Funded northern organizations to participate in discussions on the use and transportation of heavy fuel oils in the Arctic.
• Extended the Canadian Coast Guard's annual Arctic operational season to help mariners both earlier and later in the navigation season.
• Provided funding through the Safety Equipment and Basic Marine Infrastructure for Northern Communities Initiative to make Arctic resupply operations more efficient and safer for communities, workers, and the environment. Funding recipients include:
  • the Government of Northwest Territories to:
    • purchase 4 double-hulled barges for use by local communities to minimize fuel spill risks
    • replace a petroleum product transfer pipeline
    • upgrade petroleum storage infrastructure
    • repair moorings used to secure barges for safer sealift and resupply operations
    • repair the Norman Wells dock and pier
  • the Government of Nunavut to:
    • study the marine infrastructure needs across the territory's communities
    • place 10 mooring bollards in 5 communities, which will allow vessels to be safely secured next to jetties, wharves, and berths in ports and harbours
    • build a warehouse to store cargo in Iqaluit
    • improve sealift areas
    • relocate equipment for safe petroleum product transfer
    • replace pipelines to increase safety and efficiency of petroleum product transfer
    • install mooring bollards to promote safer sealift and resupply operations
    • buy equipment to improve communication and documentation for sealift and resupply operations
  • The Government of Nunavik (Inuit territory in northern Quebec) to install bollards and equipment, replace pipelines for safer sealift/resupply operations, and upgrade equipment for petroleum product transfer in 13 communities
  • The Government of Nunatsiavut (Inuit territory in Labrador) to build infrastructure to promote safe freight storage in 3 communities

To improve our ability to respond to marine incidents, we have:

• Opened new Canadian Coast Guard search and rescue stations in:
  • Victoria, Hartley Bay, and Tahsis, British Columbia
  • St. Anthony, Old Perlican, and Twillingate, Newfoundland and Labrador
• Re-established the Canadian Coast Guard's Maritime Rescue Sub-Centre in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, to better coordinate on-the-water responses to maritime search and rescue incidents.
• Made Canadian Coast Guard's Regional Operations Centres, which monitor and assess marine incidents (including pollution events), operational 24/7.
  • Centres in the Atlantic, western, central and Arctic regions already have this ability. The National Command Centre also has a Duty Officer on call 24 hours a day.
  • In the next few months, the National Command Centre will begin operating 24/7 permanently as well (presently 24 hours operations can be activated in case of emergency).
• Opened a new seasonal inshore rescue boat station—the first station to be staffed by Indigenous students—in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut. This station expands local search and rescue coverage and reduces response times for incidents in local waters.
  • In 2020, the station's operating season was extended. This allowed the station to provide essential search and rescue services to the community during the busy and higher-risk hunting season.
  • Also in 2020, the station responded to 6 search and rescue incidents and conducted 3 search and rescue exercises with local partners.
• Leased 2 emergency offshore towing vessels, which are capable of towing large commercial ships in distress, for use off the coast of British Columbia.
• Purchased emergency tow kits for Canadian Coast Guard vessels to improve their ability to tow large disabled vessels.
• Updated infrastructure at over 130 marine communications and traffic services remote sites across Canada. This work provides better communications coverage to mariners in remote areas.
• Invested in new, modern environmental response equipment for the Canadian Coast Guard across Canada, including:
  • curtain booms and fence boom systems, which form a temporary barrier to contain an oil spill, making recovery easier and helping reduce the spread of oil
  • small- and medium-sized portable skimmers, which are used to collect, separate, and remove oil from the water surface
  • fabric storage tanks for temporary offshore storage of recovered oil spill
  • boom trailers for temporary storage and deployment of curtain boom
  • response trailers to store and transport environmental response equipment to incident sites

Beyond equipment and infrastructure, training and hiring additional personnel has been a focal point for improving response to marine incidents. So far we have: 

• Trained over 4,500 staff in the internationally recognized Incident Command System at emergency coordination centres, which helps people involved in responding to marine accidents be more effective.
• Conducted 58 environmental response exercises across the country. These ranged from small-scale workshops and drills to full-scale multi-national exercises involving multiple partners. This practice makes sure Canada is ready to effectively respond if a marine oil spills occurs.
• Delivered 46 environmental response training courses to 435 participants, including Indigenous communities, the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary, local governments, and other partners. This training helps participants involved in responses to marine accidents be faster and more effective.
• Worked with members of Indigenous communities on the West Coast to deliver training in marine search and rescue, environmental response and the Incident command structure to more than 500 participants representing more than 50 Nations. This training improves local capacity to support incident response.
• Hired enforcement officers to enhance capacity on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to hold polluters to account.

Other actions taken to improve marine incident response include:

• Developed a National Wildlife Emergency Response Framework to establish a national policy, as well as standardized guidance for government, industry, and supporting response organizations for their respective roles in implementing various aspects of wildlife response activities.
• Established a Data Management Advisory Team to coordinate the standardization and sharing of new ecological data and spatial layers into emergency preparedness and response planning across government departments.
• Developed tools to predict currents and drift for Canadian ports and nearshore waters to improve estimates of oil spill trajectories.
• Advanced foundational research and technical information that would support response to oil spills including the use of alternative response measures.
• Posted an Intentions Paper to provide information and seek feedback on the potential legislative amendments that would be required to put in place the alternative response measures framework.

Transport Canada

Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Canadian Coast Guard

Pillar 2 - Preservation and Restoration of Marine Ecosystems include:

• Collection of baseline data and cumulative effects assessment - working closely with Indigenous and coastal communities, the Government of Canada will create a pilot baseline program to better understand the cumulative effects of shipping on coastal ecosystems.
• Protect aquatic ecosystems - new measures will be funded that implement a real-time whale detection system to alert mariners to the presence of whales, which will help them avoid interactions and vessel strikes.
• Addressing abandoned vessels - The Government is implementing a national strategy that focuses on the prevention and removal of these problem vessels.

TC: $20,514,558

DFO/CCG: $49,448,318

Total:
$69,962,876

TC: $19,409,311

DFO/CCG: $42,258,241

Total:
$61,667,552

The number of abandoned and wrecked vessels addressed

Percentage of projects funded through Coastal Restoration Fund contribution agreements leading to rehabilitation of aquatic habitats

By 2022, at least 275 abandoned and wrecked vessels addressed

90% of projects funded through Coastal Restoration Fund contribution agreements lead to rehabilitation of aquatic habitats

To preserve and restore marine ecosystems vulnerable to marine activities, we have:

• Funded over 60 projects, worth over $70 million, to restore coastal aquatic habitats through the Coastal Restoration Fund. These projects reduce stressors that affect marine life and their habitats and have long-term health benefits. Some projects include:
  • over $20 million committed for 25 projects across British Columbia to restore coastal aquatic habitats that help key species like Chinook salmon and the endangered Southern Resident killer whale.
  • nearly $1.2 million in funding for the Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq to restore coastal habitats along the Northumberland Strait and the Bay of Fundy.
  • more than $2 million in funding for the Maliseet Nation Conservation Council, the St. Mary's River Association, and the Nova Scotia Salmon Association to help restore coastal habitats across Atlantic Canada.
• Worked collaboratively with Indigenous Peoples, local stakeholders, and coastal communities to assess the cumulative effects of marine shipping in 6 regional assessment sites across the country. This work has informed the newly published National Framework for Assessing the Cumulative Effects of Marine Shipping document. Regionally, the CEMS initiative has accomplished the following:
  • Cambridge Bay: Worked collaboratively with two other OPP initiatives to assess impacts of ice breaking and implemented a mitigation measure.
  • Quebec: Worked collaboratively with Quebec, First Nations, and the marine industry to complete the assessment of cumulative effects of marine vessel activities on biophysical components, launched assessment of cumulative effects of marine vessel activities on social-cultural values of Indigenous communities.
  • North Coast British Columbia: Worked collaboratively with 14 First Nations through the Reconciliation Framework Agreement to assess the cumulative effects of marine shipping on values identified by the nations.
  • South Coast British Columbia: Worked collaboratively with South Coast BC First Nations to develop a regional partnership structure with the BC First Nations Fisheries Council and developed regional and subregional partnerships and workplans to support a multi-layered assessment approach.
  • Placentia Bay: Working collaboratively with marine industry and First Nations, initiated the assessment of the cumulative effects of marine shipping in Placentia Bay.
  • Bay of Fundy: Working collaboratively with Indigenous partners, while allowing for flexibility and adaptability of timelines for project implementation, engaged in discussions to begin scoping the assessment of the cumulative effects of marine shipping.
• From April 2017 to March 2021, Conservation and Protection Fishery Officers spent more than 44,701 hours responding to marine mammal incidents, and more than 15,074 hours monitoring marine protected areas.
• 40 coastal detachments have at least one trained and equipped Conservation and Protection Fishery Officers to safely support experts responding to marine mammals in distress.
• Undertook over 1,500 hours of marine mammal surveillance under Transport Canada's National Aerial Surveillance Program (NASP). Thanks to NASP surveillance, vessels can slow down or avoid areas where marine mammals have been detected in the water and endangered species, like the North Atlantic right whale and the Southern Resident killer whale, can be safer with less net entanglement and fewer collisions with vessels.
• Continued to fund the Canadian Chair at the World Maritime University to support international marine environmental protection and Canada's coastal and ocean agenda.

Abandoned or wrecked vessels are a growing problem across Canada, and threaten not only marine ecosystems but navigation, local economies, and public safety as well. Steps taken to address this issue through the National Strategy on Abandoned and Wrecked Vessels (under the Oceans Protection Plan) include: 

• Funded over 300 projects as part of the Abandoned Boats Program to assess the condition and/or remove and dispose of boats to reduce hazards to navigation in our waters across the country.
• Brought the Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act (WAHVA) into force in July 2019, which protects our coast and shorelines by:
  • banning vessel abandonment
  • strengthening owner responsibility and liability for their vessels
  • adopting the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks, 2007into Canadian law
  • improving federal powers to take action on problem vessels
• Addressed 553 vessels under WAHVA authorities (Transport Canada and Canadian Coast Guard), including removal of 144 vessels
• Removed 337 vessels under the two short-term funding programs, including:
  • 180 vessels as part of the Abandoned Boats Program to remove and dispose of boats to reduce hazards to navigation in our waters across the country
  • As part of the Small Craft Harbours Abandoned and Wrecked Vessels Removal Program 154 vessels were removed and disposed to help protect Canada's marine environment and improve marine safety in Canada's small craft harbours
• Funded five public education projects aimed at raising awareness about boat owner responsibility, including proper end-of-life management practices
• Funded research projects on environmentally responsible boat design and recycling of end-of-life boats. This included funding of research into new, economically viable and ecologically sustainable ways to recycle or reuse fiberglass used to construct pleasure craft hulls through the Innovative Solutions Canada program and the Abandoned Boats Program:
  • Three recipients received funding for phase 1 of the program and two recipients received phase 2 funding to develop a prototype. Final reports on prototype development were received in early 2022.
  • Three recipients received funding under the Abandoned Boats Program Research component. Of those three, one project is still underway, and two projects were completed and generated a market study around fiberglass boat recycling solutions, other potential solutions to the recycling issue and dissembling processes development.
• Developed a national inventory of wrecked, abandoned or hazardous vessels in Canadian waters and a risk assessment method to prioritize these vessels
• Completed initial consultations on proposed changes to vessel owner identification systems, including new service fees.
• Completed initial consultations on a proposed regulatory charge, which would be paid by vessel owners, to finance a long-term vessel remediation fund to help cover the costs to assess and address wrecked, abandoned, or hazardous vessels.

Transport Canada

Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Canadian Coast Guard

TC: $19,723,882

DFO/CCG: $8,392,888

Total:
$28,116,770

TC: $15,600,850

DFO/CCG: $8,321,551

Total:
$23,922,401

Indigenous communities have unique historical and cultural ties to Canada's oceans that span generations. As part of the Oceans Protection Plan, we're partnering with Indigenous Peoples across the country to improve our marine safety system. As of March 2022, we have held over 2,300 engagement sessions, including over 1,800 engagement sessions with Indigenous groups, to modernize marine safety and environmental protection in Canada. Together, we have:

• Created the Marine Training Program to help underrepresented groups (Indigenous Peoples, Northerners, and women) access marine training. The program is offered at the:
  • British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), in partnership with Camosun College, which has seen 173 students graduate from their program since 2019;
  • Nunavut Fisheries and Marine Training Consortium, where 242 students have completed courses since 2018; and
  • Nova Scotia Community College where since 2019 342 students have graduated.
• Signed the first-ever Reconciliation Framework Agreement For Bioregional Oceans Management and Protection between the Government of Canada and 16 Pacific North Coast Nations in British Columbia to better coordinate and collaborate on solutions to local ocean issues.
• Signed the Oceans Protection Plan Commitment to Action and Results,between the Government of Canada and the First Nations Fisheries Council, to support First Nations involvement in the rollout of the Oceans Protection Plan on the South Coast of British Columbia.
• Provided more than$12M in funding to over 40 Indigenous communities to buy search and rescue boats and equipment, improving their ability to participate in marine emergency response as members of the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary.
• Delivered training in emergency response and waterway management to Indigenous communities and provincial government employees to help them play an important role in marine safety in their communities.
• Co-launched the Coastal Nations Coast Guard Auxiliary, the first Indigenous led Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary organization, who now have units in eight First Nations communities along the BC coast.
• Increased financial support and spending flexibility for the Arctic Coast Guard Auxiliary chapter to allow them to continue to build search and rescue capacity in the North.
• Since 2018, provided $5.8 million in funding through the Indigenous and Local Communities Engagement and Partnership Program for 21 projects with Indigenous groups across the country. This funding supports their ongoing, long-term engagement and partnership on Oceans Protection Plan measures.
• Between April 2017 and March 2022, provided $4.5 million in funding through the Community Participation Funding Program to support Indigenous and local community participation in developing and improving Canada's marine transportation system.

Transport Canada

Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Canadian Coast Guard

Natural Resources Canada

$106.4M

TC: $1,089,438

NRCan: $1,200,000

DFO/CCG: $20,213,601

Total:
$22,503,039

TC: $1,058,129

NRCan: $1,226,891

DFO/CCG: $17,317,902

Total:
$19,602,922

The percent of policies and operational response plans developed through the OPP that are supported by scientific, local/traditional, and other relevant information and knowledge

The percentage of Canadians who are confident in Canada's marine safety system

100% of policies and operational response plans are supported by scientific, local/traditional, and other relevant information/knowledge

By 2022, at least 70% of Canadians and at least 75% of coastal communities have moderate or fully confidence in Canada's marine safety system

2022

2022

Science is the cornerstone of evidence-based decision-making. As part of the Oceans Protection Plan, the Government of Canada has invested in scientific research and technology to help us better prevent and respond to ship-source oil spills, while also increasing our understanding of how to protect coastal ecosystems. We have:

• Improved our understanding of alternative spill response measures that explore different techniques to respond to oil spilled in the marine environment, while supporting natural processes to break down the oil. The Multi-Partner Research Initiative has funded over 30 projects looking at spill treating agents, oily waste disposal, and more.
• Improved the transfer of scientific information on oil spill remediation to the scientific and response community to help them improve spill response tactics and minimize the environmental impact of a spill. This includes the digitization of over one thousand Government of Canada publications and technical reports, development of two new field guides for responding to oiled shorelines in fresh and marine environments that provide technical support tools for decision-makers, and adding new petroleum products to the  Environment Canada Crude Oil and Petroleum Product Database - Open Government Portal .
• Funded oil spill research, especially on Canadian oil products, to better understand how oil behaves and breaks down in different marine conditions.
• NRCan's oil spill science program has progressed our understanding of oil fate and behavior as well as natural degradation pathways by:
  • Reviewing current knowledge of petroleum microbial degradation pathways in water environments;
  • Benchmarking NRCan test tank energies against those of global facilities and field conditions;
  • Developing methods to distinguish petroleum from soil humic substances to track petroleum transformation in sediment;
  • Developing methods to quantify oxidized petroleum compounds to follow toxicity changes as petroleum is degraded;
  • Evaluating how the North Saskatchewan River microbial communities are able to degrade all parts of petroleum including the largest, most resistant compounds (asphaltenes and resins); and,
  • Participating in international consortia projects aimed at improving the performance of oil fate and behaviour mathematical models, and the applicability of lab-scale toxicity test results.
• This knowledge is being used by the oil spill community to inform development of response plans and policies, as well during stakeholder engagements including: Technical support for Transport Canada regulation development; collaborative Indigenous- federal science research; Consultation to international organizations such as the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and, Impact assessment for west coast Roberts Bank and Deltaport Terminal expansion projects.
• Improved access to high-quality, real-time or near real-time data on our marine environment by funding Ocean Networks Canada, which operates several ocean observatories at the University of Victoria.
• Developed new coastal ocean, wave, and ice forecasts across Canada's 3 coastlines to support emergency spill responders through improved drift estimates.
• Improved an emergency responder's ability to accurately track spills and predict their path by developing metrics to measure the uncertainty of trajectory forecasts.
• Funded projects on ubstance drift prediction modelling to help better predict the trajectory of drifting objects or substances (like spilled oil, drifting vessels, whale carcasses, or people who need help).
• Worked with more than 40 different Indigenous organizations, coastal communities and marine stakeholders on more than 60 projects to collect ecological baseline data at 6 coastal sites across Canada.  This data, gathered through the Coastal Environmental Baseline Program, helps create a record of these important areas, detect changes in them over time, and support future evidence-based assessments and management decisions.
• Conducted ground surveys of priority shorelines across Canada to better understand the current environmental conditions. These surveys will inform future evidence-based decisions to protect our marine environments and communities from potential spills.
• Held annual Technical Seminar on Environmental Contamination and Response that brought together international researchers and technicians to collaborate and identify best practices in research, preparedness, and response.

Canada's whales are iconic and breathtaking animals which are a vital part of our marine ecosystems. Investments in whale-related research has generated important scientific advice that has helped inform management measures aimed at mitigating key threats to the survival and recovery for some of Canada's endangered whale species. Under the OPP, we have:

• Worked with partners on 10 projects to develop and test innovative technologies that are able to detect the presence of the endangered North Atlantic right whale and Southern Resident killer whale in near real-time. As a result of this scientific work, some of these technologies are now being used to inform management measures aimed at reducing the threat of fishing gear entanglements and ship strikes for the North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
• Worked with partners on 19 projects to better understand the impact of shipping-related noise on the endangered Southern Resident killer whale, St. Lawrence Estuary Beluga and North Atlantic right whale in order to help inform management measures aimed at reducing underwater noise levels in important whale habitat.
• Deployed 24 acoustic monitoring stations in key areas of importance for the Southern Resident Killer Whale, the St. Lawrence Estuary Beluga and the North Atlantic Right Whale to measure ambient underwater noise levels and understand how and when the whales are using the areas.

We have Continued to raise awareness about the Oceans Protection Plan and marine safety, including engaging and receiving ongoing input from Canadians. An increase in public confidence around marine safety and marine environmental protection has created greater social license and public support for the Government of Canada to increase the shipping activity which is critical to the COVID-19 economic recovery. Since the launch of OPP, public confidence in Canada's marine safety system has increased 6%, according to Clear Seas 2020 Angus Reid Public Opinion Research. Overall, awareness of the Government of Canada's marine safety system increased since the launch of the Oceans Protection Plan and, awareness of the Plan's priorities rose by 15- 20% since it launched in 2018.