Research Portal

Quantifying Fish-Turbine Interactions Using New VEMCO Tagging Technology

October 2017 – December 2019

This project tested innovative acoustic fish tagging technology made by VEMCO, a Nova Scotian engineering technology company. Their acoustic telemetry tags are expected to be more effective in noisy, high-current environments like the Minas Passage.

Integrating Hydro-acoustic Approaches to Predict Fish Interactions with In-Stream Tidal Turbines

October 2017 – December 2019

Understanding exactly how fish interact with tidal turbines is still a critical knowledge gap for the tidal energy sector.

Multipurpose X-Band Marine Radar Network for the Minas Passage

January – November 2019

Marine X-band radar locates vessels and features, including coastlines and buoys.  It filters distracting signals (eg.

Multi-Scale Turbulence Measurement in the Aquatron Laboratory

July 2018 – July 2019

This project has two primary objectives - to characterize the flow and turbulence in the Aquatron facility pool tank using turbulence sensors calibrated against a traceable standard; and to test technologies for investigating the horizontal variability of turbulence in real-world tidal channels.

Geoscience » Play Fairway Analyses Atlases 2010–Present

Shelburne Sub-Basin Play Fairway Analysis Update

November 2018 – June 2019

Shortly after the Scotian Shelf and Slope Play Fairway Analysis (PFA) was released in 2011, Shell Canada acquired six exploration parcels in the Shelburne Subbasin and collected approximately 10,850 square kilometers of wide azimuth 3D seismic data.

Integrated Active and Passive Acoustic System for Environmental Monitoring (ISEM)

August 2015 – May 2019

The project team will develop a novel environmental monitoring system that integrates data analysis software and active and passive acoustic sensors to provide real-time tracking of fish and marine mammals in high energy sites.

Application of (Low-Cost) Drifters with Suspended Hydrophone Arrays to Assess Harbour Porpoise Use of the Water Column and Spatial Overlap with MRE Devices in the Minas Passage

October 2017 – April 2019

The project investigated the use of a new low-cost drifter technology to monitor the activity and depth distribution of harbour porpoises frequenting the Minas Passage and Minas Channel.

Remote Acoustic Measurements of Turbulence in High-Flow Tidal Channels during High Wave Conditions

April 2018 – April 2019

Many of the high-flow tidal channels targeted for worldwide in-stream hydro-electric development are impacted by surface gravity waves incident from a large exterior basin (e.g. the Bay of Fundy/Gulf of Maine/North Atlantic).

STREEM: Sensor Testing Research for Environmental Effects Monitoring

October 2018 – March 2019

The research goal was to enhance understanding on sensor performance and sensor-to-sensor interactions to inform environmental effects monitoring (EEM) protocol for future tidal turbine deployments.

Innovative Solutions for De-risking Species Detections in Tidal Energy Environmental Effects Monitoring Programs

April 2018 – March 2019

With collaboration from Genome Atlantic, this research project is using a new environmental DNA technology to rapidly identify and determine abundance of different fish species in high-flow marine conditions. Experiments were conducted at Dalhousie University’s Aquatron facility. N