Taxa and morphotype occurrences of 68 select taxa from the 2022-2024 near-seafloor optical imagery transects in proposed conservation network sites in Southwest New Brunswick, Bay of Fundy, Canada.

A derived analysis of the full survey record: https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/f9098f77-b2e1-423d-8950-eeabd7bba85b, funded under Fisheries and Oceans Canada's Marine Conservation Targets Program, this optical imagery benthic survey captured 73 drift-camera transects from September 21, 2022 to October 3, 2024 in the Southwest New Brunswick region of the lower, western Bay of Fundy, Canada. The survey area includes proposed Marine Conservation Network sites across the Head Harbour/West Isles/Passages (HH/WI/P) Ecologically and Biologically Significant Area (EBSA), Passamaquoddy Bay, The Wolves Islands EBSA, and Grand Manan. High-resolution still images (n=5081; Nikon D850) were taken periodically throughout each transect along with simultaneous continuous high-definition downward- and forward-facing seafloor video (~30 hours of each). Only select still images were chosen for analysis using a 20-m spatial buffer. This dataset comprises the subset of still imagery (n=1699) analyzed for the presence and absence of 68 key taxa, along with abundance of 8 species of high conservation an commercial value, as well as general habitat description of each transect. Images were analyzed using the image annotation software BIIGLE (https://biigle.de/), resulting in 8524 occurrences (>100 000 including absences) across variable substrates. Morphotype descriptions and suggested/likely taxa are provided under "occurrenceRemarks". Encrusting sponges were the most commonly occurring taxa, followed by common seastars and brown algae. Horse mussels (Modiolus modiolus) were observed forming mussel beds in the HH/WI/P EBSA, while stalked tunicates (Boltenia ovifera) and green sea urchins (Stronglyocentrotus droebachiensis) were notably rare.