How wild is the ocean? Assessing the intensity of anthropogenic marine activities in British Columbia, Canada

1.The intensity of marine activities in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of British Columbia, Canada, was quantified.2.Humans use the ocean for a multitude of purposes, many of which have a direct impact on marine life and habitat. Yet such uses are seldom assessed in an integrated fashion.3.Using a GIS approach, spatial information for 39 marine activities was mapped, including commercial and recreational fishing areas, transportation and infrastructure uses, and terrestrial activities along the coast of British Columbia.4.A relative scale was used to rank both the impact of marine activities and the extent of stressors beyond the location of occurrence. Limited information on the latter led to the application of three ranges of buffer distances to the data (0-1 km, 0-5 km, and 0-25 km).5.The most conservative estimate (