Canada Marine Protected Areas Update

In 2019, Canada announced that the nation had surpassed its marine conservation target of 10 percent protection of marine and coastal areas.

The progress is the result of collaborative efforts with indigenous peoples, all levels of government, marine industries, and stakeholders.

To date, Canada has established 14 MPAs under the Oceans Act, three National Marine Conservation Areas, one marine National Wildlife Area, and 59 marine refuges. These areas protect 13.81% of Canada’s marine and coastal areas.

Projects include:


2019

• Establishment of the Tuvaijuittuq Marine Protected Area (MPA). This MPA contributes 5.55 percent towards Canada’s marine conservation targets and encompasses an area of 319 411 km2.
• Amendments to the Oceans Act enabling the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard to designate interim MPAs to provide protection to vulnerable areas while further scientific research and consultation take place.
• Adoption of new protection standards for federal MPAs and other effective area-based conservation measures to better conserve sensitive and important parts of oceans.
• Establishment of 2 Oceans Act Marine Protected Areas.
• Banc-des-Américains MPA.
• Laurentian Channel MPA.
• Announcement of 8 new marine refuges in Howe Sound, between mainland British Columbia and Vancouver Island.

2018

• Establishment of Scott Islands marine National Wildlife Area off Vancouver Island.
• Announcement of the Canada-Quebec Collaborative Agreement to Establish a Network of Marine Protected Areas in Quebec.

2017

• Announcement of 51 marine refuges; representing approximately 275,000 km2 and 4.78% of conserved marine territory.
• Establishment of 2 Oceans Act Marine Protected Areas
• Hecate Strait/Queen Charlotte Sound Glass Sponge Reef MPA
• St. Anns Bank MPA
• Announcement of the final boundary for the Tallurutiup Imanga National Marine Conservation Area in the High Arctic.

2016

• Establishment of Anguniaqvia niqiqyuam Marine Protected Area in the Beaufort Sea, Northwest Territories.

Future Projects

The Government of Canada remains committed to carrying out the work set out under the five-point plan, including the protection of large offshore areas such as the Offshore Pacific Area of Interest, identified in May 2017, west of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

source: Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans


Related Information

New Canada Marine Refuges (Nunavut - Newfoundland and Labrador)

Canada Inuit Nunangat Arctic Region

Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans

South Atlantic Marine Protected Areas Expansion (Coral Amendment 8)

NOAA Fisheries is seeking public comment on Amendment 8 to the Fishery Management Plan for Coral, Coral Reefs, and Live/Hardbottom Habitats of the South Atlantic Region (Coral Amendment 8).

The Notice of Availability for Coral Amendment 8 published in the Federal Register on May 20, 2014 (79 FR 28880).

If approved, the amendment would extend protections for deepwater coral ecosystems by expanding the boundaries of the Oculina Bank Habitat Area of Particular Concern, and the Stetson-Miami Terrace and Cape Lookout Coral Habitat Areas of Particular Concern.

The Coral Amendment 8 comment period ends July 21, 2014.

source: NOAA Fisheries

Canada Areas of Interest for Potential Marine Protected Areas

In June, Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans, announced three Areas of Interest for potential designation as Marine Protected Areas under the Oceans Act.

Officials named St. Anns Bank as an Area of Interest in Eastern Nova Scotia, and two Areas of Interest in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, American Bank and Shediac Valley.

DFO called the move a key step towards fulfilling the Government’s commitment to establish a national network of Marine Protected Areas.

A Marine Protected Area (MPA) is a protective designation for an area that significantly contributes to the health of marine ecosystems and their resources.

The Government of Canada has established three new Marine Protected Areas, two National Marine Conservation Areas and three National Wildlife Areas in the marine environment.

The first step in MPA establishment is the identification of an Area of Interest. The area will then undergo detailed evaluation, and public consultation before a decision is made to formally designate it as an MPA.

source: Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Four MPAs Join the National System of Marine Protected Areas

Four existing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) - Lydonia, Norfolk, Oceanographer, and Veatch canyons, which are gear restricted areas established under the Tilefish Fishery Management Plan are now part of the National System of MPAs.

The four MPAs were nominated by NOAA Fisheries in conjunction with the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. Under the revised Tilefish Fishery Management Plan, these areas are closed to bottom trawling gear to protect clay outcroppings, which can provide shelter to tilefish. The four areas are the first Federal fishery management sites to be listed in the National System of MPAs.

Oregon Ocean Policy Advisory Council Recommends Marine Reserves

On 7 December, Oregon’s Ocean Policy Advisory Council recommended that Oregon set aside three new ocean areas as “marine reserves”.  The recommendation was adopted by a 15 to 1 vote, and sent on to the Oregon Fish & Wildlife Commission for formal rule-making.  The reserves could also become part of Oregon legislation in 2011.

The reserves, at Yachats’ Cape Perpetua, Manzanita’s Cape Falcon and Depoe Bay’s Cascade Head, represent a much bigger swath of ocean than the 4 square miles in total that was set aside last year at Port Orford’s Redfish Rocks and Newport’s Otter Rock. Those two areas comprise .03 percent of state-owned waters, which stretch from shore to three miles out to sea. The three new reserves would take up between 5 and 7 percent of state territorial waters.

Members of the Council usually opposed to such set asides in the past, including at least one commercial fisherman, remain skeptical but decided they’d be better off voting for a proposal that directs the state to secure funding for research of the marine reserves’ results, assures enforcement of restrictions within the reserves, and promises mitigation of the economic impacts to coastal communities that rely on the fishing industry. 

The reserves each take different shapes, and they have one or more less restrictive “marine protected area” attached to them. The reserve at Cape Perpetua, for example, occupies a total of 22.9 square miles; no fishing or wave energy development or “extractive” activity of any kind would be allowed in that area. Further north, the Council is recommending a “marine protected area” where recreational and commercial crabbing, commercial salmon fishing and shoreside recreational fishing would be allowed, as would commercial groundfishing with hook-and-line. That area is 18.2 square miles.

South of the Perpetua marine reserve, there are two more protected areas, one that’s 13.1 square miles and another that’s 36 square miles. The smaller area has the same restrictions as the protected area further north, except that it allows for groundfish trawling and forage fishing, and the targeting of prey fish such as herring, sardines and anchovies. The other protected area to the south allows for all but forage fishing. The council also recommended more evaluation of a possible sixth marine reserve, off Cape Arago.  For more information about the Oregon Ocean Policy Council go to: www.oregon.gov/LCD/OPAC.

source: Fishlink Sublegals

California Marine Protected Area Brochures

New marine protected areas (MPAs) will go into effect along California's coastline during 2010.

A new brochure entitled "Marine Protected Area Information for Recreational Fishermen" is now available online from California Department of Fish and Game.

See:

www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/pdfs/nccmpas_brochure_highres.pdf .

A web-friendly version (smaller file size):

www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/pdfs/nccmpas_brochure_lowres.pdf .

For more information, visit the Marine Life Protection Act Web site at www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa.