The Marine Environmental Sciences Division is responsible for delivery of the Maritimes Region component of DFO’s Environmental Science Program. The primary mandate of this program is to provide advice and generate new knowledge on the impacts of human activities on fish and fish habitat. In addition the program is responsible for conducting research on the fate, distribution and biological effects of contaminants in the marine environment. This broad mandate is tackled by a research team with diverse skills located at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and at the Biological Station in St. Andrews, New Brunswick.
The diversity of the research conducted and the scientific advice that is provided is reflected in the large number of themes that are used to categorize our research activities:

• Aquaculture research and advice for an environmentally sustainable industry
• Contaminants fate and biological effects of contaminants
• Ecology developing an understanding of complex ecological processes
• Harmful algal blooms threats to fish and human health
• Habitat - in support of the habitat "no net loss" policy
• Marine environmental quality identifying sensitive indicators
• Oceanography chemicals as tracers for ocean climate studies
• Oil and gas potential impacts and spill remediation
• Species at risk critical habitat identification for recovery plans