Canada's coastline is as long as six trips around the earth. Marine waters in Canada are vast, home to countless species and relied upon by thousands of coastal communities to work, live and play. With a target of protecting 30 percent of lands and waters by 2030, Canada must take bold action to ensure marine areas are protected.
Today, to kick-off the Fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress, IMPAC5, in Vancouver, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, announced a new policy to guide the establishment and management of national marine conservation areas (NMCAs), helping to advance the Government of Canada's goal to create ten new NMCAs.
Parks Canada is working to expand the network of NMCAs. Currently, Parks Canada administers five NMCAs like Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, and Haida Heritage Site along the northern British Columbia Coast, with active proposals for another seven, including NMCAs in the Magdalen Islands, the Southern Strait of Georgia, the Central Coast of British Columbia, the northern coast of Labrador, and along James and Hudson Bays. Work continues to confirm at least three additional candidate sites.
The new NMCA Policy Framework emphasizes the importance of collaboration and co-management with Indigenous peoples. This policy sets direction for all current and future NMCAs. The Policy will strengthen Canada's contribution to the qualitative elements of international marine conservation targets, by setting out how NMCAs can be effectively and equitably managed.
The new Policy articulates eight interconnected, mutually reinforcing management goals for the NMCA program. These management goals uphold Parks Canada's commitment to reconciliation and working in partnership with Indigenous peoples, while prioritizing the protection of marine ecosystems and biodiversity. It also highlights and provides direction around NMCAs contributing to the well-being of Indigenous peoples and coastal communities. The new Policy brings clarity on the management of NMCAs, along with a new zoning framework that is more responsive to both protection and ecologically sustainable use objectives. It identifies a suite of management tools for NMCAs, including regulatory tools to be developed under the Canada National Marine Conservation Areas Act.
This announcement comes as international ministers, Indigenous leaders, conservation groups, industry and youth and other decision-makers at IMPAC5 are invited to a high-level segment, the Leadership Forum on February 9, to help chart a course towards achieving the marine conservation targets negotiated at COP15, the United Nations Biodiversity Conference that Canada hosted in Montreal in December 2022.
To create this new Policy Framework, Parks Canada consulted approximately 250 organizations, including industry, fisheries, environmental groups, tourism and recreational users, research experts, and received over 3,000 individual responses from many stakeholders, Canadians, Indigenous governments and organizations and provincial/territorial governments.
Parks Canada is continuing work to develop a first set of regulations for NMCAs. Public consultation on the scope and content of its regulatory proposal will be launched in spring 2023.
