The Scotian Shelf in context : State of the Scotian shelf report

The State of the Scotian Shelf Report builds on these documents and links the current status and trends observed on the shelf to human State of the Scotian Shelf Report and environmental impacts, as wells as man- agement actions and responses. [...] The Northeast Channel separates the shelf from the Gulf of Maine to the southwest, while the Laurentian Channel is the natural boundary with the Newfoundland and? [...] For the purposes of this report, the region includes the Scotian Slope and Rise (the area from the edge of the continental shelf seaward to the abyssal plain), and the abyssal plain itself within Canada’s Exclusive Economic Zone. [...] GeoloGy The inner shelf borders the coast and can be con- The ocean bottom, Its shape and the types of sedi- sidered an underwater extension of Nova Scotia’s ment that overlay it, help define the habitats of the coastal areas. [...] The stability of sediments From that point, the depth increases more gradually and the communities living on and in them affects until the seafloor flattens out at the abyssal plain, at the whole ecosystem.