Neguac Bay Eelgrass Classification

It has long been understood that eelgrass (Zostera marina) is important to waterfowl such as Atlantic Brant (Branta bernicla hrota), Canada Goose (Branta canadensis), American Black Duck (Anas rubripes), Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) and Barrow's Goldeneye (Bucephala islandica). In New Brunswick, eelgrass can be found along the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in protected harbours such as at Neguac Bay, in the province's northeast (47015’N, 65002’W).This dataset contains results from an eelgrass classification for Neguac Bay, New Brunswick. True colour aerial photography at 57 centimetre resolution was collected on September 2, 2009 by Nortek Resources of Thorburn, Nova Scotia (https://www.nortekresources.com/). Image classification was conducted using eCognition Developer v. 8 Software, which first segments the image into spectrally similar units, which were then classified manually. Additionally, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (Gulf Region, Moncton, NB) conducted a visual field survey in the same field season at 126 sites. Two-thirds of these sites were used to assist in image classification, while the remainder were used to assess accuracy. Three classes were identified:Good Quality Eelgrass: relatively dense, clean, green blades with minimal epiphytes or algal growth. Medium Quality Eelgrass: predominately green blades that may have some epiphyte or algal growth. These stands can be less or equally dense as Good Quality Eelgrass, but the best grasses are certainly not as abundant. Eelgrass Absent/Poor Quality: eelgrass is absent, or if it is present it is typically covered with epiphytes or other algae or dying or dead. Eelgrass was classified correctly 81% of the time in a fuzzy accuracy assessment technique, whereby those classes that were ‘off’ by one class, e.g. Good Quality eelgrass classed as Medium Quality, were given half credit towards the overall accuracy. Of 39 sites that were within the classification area, 27 were correct, 9 were "one-off", and 3 were incorrect [(27 + (9/2))/ 39 = 0.81].

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Last Updated April 17, 2026, 19:34 (UTC)
Created April 17, 2026, 19:34 (UTC)
contact_email AtlCatalogueinfo@ec.gc.ca
contact_person {"en": "Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada; Canadian Wildlife Service,AtlCatalogueinfo@ec.gc.ca", "fr": "Gouvernement du Canada; Environnement et Changement climatique Canada,AtlCatalogueinfo@ec.gc.ca"}
criticality_level []
data_dictionary EPSG:32620,EPSG,7.11.2
geographic_scope []
open_canada_collection fgp
open_canada_date_published 2016-03-09 00:00:00
open_canada_keywords {"en": ["New Brunswick; Neguac; Gulf of St. Lawrence", "eelgrass; Zostera marina; image classification; coastal; remote sensing; Nature and Biodiversity- habiat", "Downloadable Data", "Aquatic plants", "Protect Species Well-Being", "Assess Status of Species", "Atlantic - New Brunswick (NB)"], "fr": ["Nouveau-Brunswick; Neguac; golfe du Saint-Laurent", "zostère; Zostera marina; classification d'images; littoral; télédétection", "Données téléchargeables", "Plante aquatique", "Protéger le bien-être des espèces", "Évaluer l'état des espèces", "Atlantique - Nouveau-Brunswick (NB)"]}
open_canada_subject ["nature_and_environment", "science_and_technology"]
sensitivity_level unrestricted
title_fr Classification des zostères de la baie de Neguac
update_frequency unknown