National Framework for Canada's Network of Marine Protected Areas

Table of Contents

• Complete Text
• Preface
• 1.0 Introduction
• 2.0 Vision
• 3.0 Network Goals
• 4.0 What is a Marine Protected Area?
  • 4.1 Definition
• 5.0 Canada's Network of Marine Protected Areas
  • 5.1 Definition
  • 5.2 Eligibility Criteria
  • 5.3 Geographic scope
• 6.0 Bioregions for the National Network of Marine Protected Areas
• 7.0 Benefits and Costs of a Marine Protected Area Network
  • 7.1 Benefits
  • 7.2 Costs
• 8.0 Guiding Principles
• 9.0 Network Design
  • 9.1 Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas
  • 9.2 Ecological Representation (or Representativity)
  • 9.3 Additional Design Properties
  • 9.4 Culturally Important Areas
• 10.0 Bioregional MPA Network Planning
  • 10.1 Governance
  • 10.2 Planning Process for Bioregional Networks of Marine Protected Areas
• 11.0 Next Steps
• Annex 1: Glossary
• Annex 2: IUCN Guidelines
  • 2.1 Key elements of the IUCN definition of a marine protected area
  • 2.2 Summary of IUCN protected area management categories and their use in evaluating marine protected areas
• Annex 3: Federal, Provincial and Territorial Legislation and Regulations Related to Marine Protected Areas and Related Conservation Measures

Annex 1: Glossary

Adaptive management

A systematic process for continually improving management policies and practices by learning from the outcomes of previously employed policies and practices.

Bathymetric

Pertaining to measurement of the depth of water in oceans or lakes.

Biological diversity

The full range of variety and variability within and among living organisms and the ecological complexes in which they occur; the diversity they encompass at the ecosystem, community, species and genetic levels; and the interaction of these components.

Biological productivity

The production of plant and animal matter; nature's ability to reproduce and regenerate living matter.

Bioregion

A biogeographic division of Canada's marine waters out to the edge of the Exclusive Economic Zone, and including the Great Lakes, based on attributes such as bathymetry, influence of freshwater inflows, distribution of multi-year ice, and species distribution.

Bioregional network planners

The federal, provincial and territorial government agencies in a given bioregion that have authority to establish MPAs or administer lands, regulate activities, etc., that are of direct relevance to MPA planning, plus any other parties that have mechanisms for protecting areas.

Community knowledge

Knowledge or expertise held by communities (e.g., fishing community), characterized by common or communal ownership.

Conservation

The maintenance or sustainable use of the Earth's resources in order to maintain ecosystem, species and genetic diversity and the evolutionary and other processes that shape them (CBD 1992). In the context of the IUCN definition of an MPA, conservation refers to the in situmaintenance of ecosystems and natural and semi-natural habitats and of viable populations of species in their natural surroundings.

Ecological resilience

Ability of a system to undergo, absorb and respond to change and disturbance whilst maintaining its functions and controls^{Footnote 15}.

Ecosystem approach

A strategy for the integrated management of land, water and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way (CBD 2004).

Ecosystem integrity

Refers to the degree to which a given area (potential MPA) functions as an effective, self-sustaining ecological unit. MPAs should be designed at an ecosystem level, recognizing patterns of connectivity within and among ecosystems. In general, an MPA which is designed to protect a diverse array of habitat types will also conserve the ecological processes and integrity of the ecosystem^{Footnote 16}.

Ecosystem services

The benefits people obtain from ecosystems, including provisioning services such as food and water; regulating services such as regulation of floods, drought, land degradation, and disease; supporting services such as soil formation and nutrient cycling; and cultural services such as recreational, spiritual, religious and other nonmaterial benefits (from IUCN definition of a protected area, 2008).

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

An area of the sea stretching from the seaward edge of the territorial sea out to 200 nautical miles from the coast, within which a country has sovereign rights for exploring, exploiting, conserving and managing living and non-living resources of the water, sea-bed and subsoil. [Where the territorial sea is defined as an area of the sea extending 12 nautical miles from the coast.]^{Footnote 17}

Integrated Oceans Management (IOM)

A continuous process through which decisions are made for the sustainable use, development and protection of areas and resources^{Footnote 18}.

Large Ocean Management Area (LOMA)

One of five marine areas established by the Government of Canada as pilots for Integrated Oceans Management planning. Each LOMA is typically hundreds of square kilometres in size.

Marine (in the context of Canada's national network of MPAs)

Canada's oceans estate extending to and including the Great Lakes, from the high water mark in coastal or shoreline areas to the outer edge of the Exclusive Economic Zone.

MPA authorities

The individual federal-provincial-territorial jurisdictions that have specific mandates and objectives for establishing MPAs.

Precautionary approach

A management approach which recognizes that the absence of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing decisions where there is a risk of serious or irreversible harm.

Protection

Any regulatory or other provision to reduce the risk of negative impact of human activities on an area.

Sustainable development

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs^{Footnote 19}.

Sustainable use

The use of components of biological diversity in a way and at a rate that does not lead to the long-term decline of biological diversity, thereby maintaining its potential to meet the needs and aspirations of present and future generations" (1995 Canadian Biodiversity Strategy).

Traditional Knowledge

Knowledge gained from generations of living and working within a family, community or culture (1995 Canadian Biodiversity Strategy).