Canada-British Columbia Marine Protected Area Network Strategy
Table of Contents
- Complete Text
- Preface
- Introduction
- The Need to Plan MPA Networks
- What is an MPA? What is an MPA Network?
- Vision and Goals for a Network of Marine Protected Areas on the Pacific Coast of Canada
- Planning Principles
- Planning Regions for Marine Protected Area Networks
- Governance
- Moving Forward
- Appendix 1. Marine Ecosystem Stressors in the North East Pacific
- Appendix 2. Protected Area Legislation in Pacific Canada
- Appendix 3. International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Guidelines for Applying Protected Area Management Categories
- Background Documents and References
Planning Regions for Marine Protected Area Networks
Pacific Canada's network of MPAs will be composed of a number of smaller networks based on four high‐level spatial units or 'bioregions' that will share a common foundation, including a vision, goals and guiding principles. The details of the process for designing and implementing MPA networks may differ between bioregions to account for the unique ecological, socio-political, economic and cultural characteristics ascribed to different ecosystems and communities along BC's coast.
Four bioregions were identified for the Pacific Ocean (Figure 1) through a national science advisory process that considered oceanographic and bathymetric similarities, important factors in defining habitats and their species.
They are:
- a complex Northern Shelf Zone (including the Queen Charlotte Sound, the Hecate Strait, the west coast of Haida Gwaii, the Queen Charlotte Strait and Northwest Vancouver Island);
- the Strait of Georgia;
- a Southern Shelf (off West Vancouver Island, which includes the Strait of Juan de Fuca); and
- a large Offshore Pacific Zone extending outward from the shelf break which includes the Alaska Gyre, the California Gyre and a transition zone.
FIGURE 1. MAJOR BIOGEOGRAPHIC UNITS FOR THE CANADIAN PACIFIC OCEAN
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