Proceedings 2014/037

Proceedings of the regional re-evaluation of Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSA) in the Beaufort Sea; November 20-22, 2012

Chairperson: Joclyn Paulic
Editor: Shannon MacPhee

Summary

A regional science advisory meeting was held November 20–22, 2012 at the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg, MB. The main objective of this meeting was to re-evaluate Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSA) in the Beaufort Sea. A primary working paper summarised the information from a number of recent sources and provided the basis for the related science advice. In addition, meeting participants provided further supplementary information and discussed the importance of temporal and spatial scales in defining EBSAs. This re-evaluation of the Beaufort Sea EBSAs was conducted at the request of the Beaufort Sea Partnership to the Oceans Program of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), Central and Arctic Region, and is part of Canada’s ongoing commitment to building a national network of marine protected areas.

As a result of this advisory meeting and based on existing EBSAs, a total of 18 EBSAs were defined within the Beaufort Sea Large Ocean Management Area. Several EBSA boundaries were adjusted based on either discrete (e.g., water depth contour, geographic extent of an island) or seasonally variable (e.g., sea-ice extent) features. Based on the new information presented in the primary working paper and participant’s enhanced understanding of the EBSA criteria since the previous evaluation, three new EBSAs were added and the original EBSAs were either modified or amalgamated to form more defined areas. For each EBSA, the valued ecosystem components (VEC) and habitat features were defined and a level of confidence in the data and information used to define the EBSA were included.

This meeting included input from 22 experts from DFO (Science, Oceans Program), Parks Canada Agency, Environment Canada, Oceans North, the World Wildlife Fund, academia (University of Manitoba, Université du Québec à Rimouski) and the Fisheries Joint Management Committee (Inuvialuit). These proceedings summarize the meeting discussions. Additional publications from this process will be posted on the DFO Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat website as they become available.

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