The Canadian Healthy Oceans Network II (CHONe II), a strategic partnership of Canadian university researchers and government scientists, brings together 39 researchers from 11 universities, one community college, and multiple federal research labs from coast to coast in Canada. The Network trains a large group of interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral researchers.

CHONe’s research explores the characteristics that define how Canada’s oceans will respond to management strategies, such as networks of Marine Protected Areas, spatial closures, and restoration efforts. Our research also clarifies and quantifies how ocean stressors such as pollution, climate change and fishing, individually and collectively, alter the diversity of life in the ocean and how ocean environments work, including those environments we use most intensively to obtain food and other resources.

The large geographic scope and diverse resources we extract from Canada’s oceans mean that scientists from across the country must work toward common objectives, sharing diverse research tools and common scientific approaches. Ocean stakeholders need an active network of marine scientists to apply leading-edge scientific knowledge to develop sustainable ocean use strategies. CHONe contributes to Canada’s national and international commitments on sustainable oceans, including the National Conservation Plan, while simultaneously advancing basic knowledge of ocean life.

Major funding is provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) in partnership with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and other government agencies; INREST (representing the Port of Sept-Îles and City of Sept-Îles); and ENGOs.

CHONe brings together 39 researchers from 11 universities, one community college, and multiple federal research labs from coast to coast in Canada.