1. Marine Spatial Planning in support of
Environmental Protection in
Canada’s marine waters
Progress to date and lessons learned
International Marine Spatial Planning Symposium
May 2012
www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

2. Outline
• Legislative basis for EBM of the marine environment in Canada
• Review of Canada’s Integrated Management Process
• Ecological Assessment work
• Preliminary environmental results:
– MPA Case studies: Eastport, Gilbert Bay, the Gully
• Moving to a National Network of Marine Protected Areas
• Conclusions and Current Priorities (monitoring and reporting)
www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

3. Canada’s approach to Ecosystem-Based Management of the Marine Environment
Legislative basis
• Based on Canadian legislation (Oceans Act: 1997) and
policies (Canada’s Oceans Strategy and Oceans Action Plan:
2005/2007) Canada’s approach to EBM is currently carried out
through Integrated Oceans Management and mainly consists
of:
– Understanding our ecosystems first and then;
– Managing the activities that may effect them
www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

4. Define and Assess Planning Area
Identify & assess available
information & knowledge
Ecosystem Overviews &
Socio-Economic & Cultural
Assessments
Canada’s Overview & Assessment
- Social demographic data - Geophysical information
- Industry use & potential - Ecological characteristics and
Integrated - Cultural use and priorities processes
- Existing licenses and rights - What resources exist (e.g.
location, quantity, quality, etc) Work
Ocean Completed
Identification of Key Ecosystem
Management Identification of Valued
Economic, Social and Cultural
Components:
Components:
e.g. EBSAs,
to Date
Significant Species,
Planning e.g. VESCAs
Community properties
Process Identification of Identification of Conservation
Objectives
Socio-economic Objectives
Strategic IOM Plan
(High Level Goals and Objectives)
Priority Setting & Pathways of Effects Development
Risk Assessment
(threats analysis)
Identification of Required Management Measures Current
Priorities
Strategies / Action Plans
Indicators
Monitoring

5. Canada’s approach to Ecosystem-Based Management of the Marine Environment
1. Define and
assess the
management
area:
Large Ocean
Management
Area pilots
• Ecosystem
Overview and
Assessment
Reports
www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

6. 2. Identification of key
Ecosystem
Components (e.g.,
EBSA, ESS, CP work)
–These significant
components become
management priorities as
they are translated into
conservation objectives
within Integrated
Management plans for Large
Ocean Management Areas
(LOMAs)
3. Science-based
conservation
objectives identified
for each LOMA
4. Development of a
Strategic IOM plan
–Upcoming LOMA reports
(ESSIM evaluation and State
of the Oceans reports)
www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

7. Canada’s Marine Protected Areas
• Majority of Canada’s
MPAs established to
meet specific
conservation
purposes and thus
do not automatically
prohibit all forms of
ocean activities
• Most designated
sites have
developed:
– Management
plans
– Monitoring
indicators and
protocols
www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

8. Eastport Marine Protected Area
Location: northeast coast of Newfoundland
• Designated in 2005
Conservation objective:
• To maintain a viable population of lobster through
the conservation, protection and sustainable use
of resources and habitats in the Eastport
Peninsula Lobster Management Area.
Annual processes
• An MPA Advisory Committee meeting, a Science
feedback meeting, and a public meeting.
Preliminary Results
• Population of lobster in the area have been stable
for a number of years.
• Increase in average sizes of individuals, which
may contribute to increased egg production.
What’s next:
• A revised management plan and a science
monitoring plan are under development.
www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

9. Gilbert Bay Marine Protected Area
Location: Southeast coast of Labrador
• Designated in 2005
Conservation objective:
• The conservation and protection of the Gilbert
Bay cod and its habitats.
Preliminary Results
• Preliminary results from science monitoring
program suggest that the population of cod in the
MPA are in decline.
• Although evidence indicates that cod within the
MPA boundary have grown larger, these cod are
now moving outside the MPA to feed and are
under fishing pressure while outside the MPA.
Current Status and Next Steps:
• Efforts are under way to try to delay the cod
fishery opening in order to give the GB cod a
chance to move back into the safety of the MPA
when their feeding season is over (~mid
September).
• A new draft management plan and a science
monitoring plan have been developed.
www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

10. The Gully Marine Protected Area
Location: Off the coast of Nova Scotia
• Designated in 2004
Conservation objective:
• Protect the health and integrity of the Gully
ecosystem (e.g., natural biodiversity, physical
structure, and productivity of the ecosystem)
Preliminary Results
• A management evaluation was conducted in
2010 to report against the commitments laid out
in the Gully MPA Management Plan.
• Key areas of evaluation (e.g., stakeholder
interactions; education, stewardship and
outreach, research and monitoring, capacity)
What’s next:
• An ecosystem monitoring plan is currently under
development that will contain indicators,
protocols, and strategies for evaluating the
biophysical aspects of the Gully (i.e., primarily to
address the conservation objectives).
www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

11. Canada’s Marine Protected Area Planning Process: Lessons Learned
What’s working well
– Partnerships with stakeholders and community groups (e.g., governance
bodies have helped avoid conflicts)
– Collaboration with other federal departments and provinces/territories
– Increasing capacity in Aboriginal organizations/communities
– MPA program helping to advance other DFO/federal programs (e.g.,
Species at Risk – northern bottlenose whales in the Gully MPA)
Challenges/Lessons Learned
– Ongoing management of MPAs including ecological monitoring, requires
significant and long-term resources
– identifying measurable conservation objectives was an initial challenge
www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

12. National Network of Marine Protected Areas: A tool to advance EBM implementation
MPA networks can protect key life stages of important species
• Canada is shifting from MPA
planning on a case by case
basis to bioregional MPA
network planning.
• MPA Networks can achieve
more than a collection of
individual sites (e.g.,
strengthen ecological
resiliency, protect a given
component along its life
stages).
Bocaccio is a rockfish found in the coastal waters of the eastern Pacific ocean
www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

13. National Network of Marine Protected Areas: A tool to advance EBM implementation
• National Framework for Canada’s Network
of Marine Protected Areas released in 2011.
• Network planning offers a more strategic,
management approach to protected area
planning (i.e., can apply the “right” F/P/T
MPA tool in a given area).
– To date, there are 810 F/P/T Marine
Protected Areas, covering 1% of
Canada’s oceans.
• Canada’s network of MPAs under
development
– Currently looking at international
examples wrt the setting of Network
objectives and monitoring
www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

14. Conclusions
• Adequate capacity to conduct monitoring in necessary to demonstrate
the impact of management actions on ecosystem health.
• Transparent reporting on results can help stakeholders understand the
challenges and constraints faced by ocean managers, and can help
build cooperation and support for initiatives.
• Repeated assessments provide an opportunity to collect information in
a regular, structured way to allow for trends monitoring and to make
course corrections when required.
• We need to build monitoring frameworks to report against high-level
ecosystem objectives.
– Canada is looking at international approaches to ecosystem
assessment with a view to enhance our current assessment and
reporting framework.
www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

15. Thank you!
Danna Campbell
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Danna.Campbell@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca