Marine Protected Areas in Canada with a Particular Emphasis on Newfoundland: Science, Policy and Implementation at Multiple Institutional Levels

• Main Authors: Jones, Kate, Schneider, David C., Snelgrove, Paul
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: The Harris Centre 2007
• Subjects: Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/216/; https://research.library.mun.ca/216/1/marine_protected_areas_in_canada.pdf; https://research.library.mun.ca/216/3/marine_protected_areas_in_canada.pdf; https://www.mun.ca/harriscentre/media/production/memorial/administrative/the-harris-centre/media-library/reports/arf/2006/FinalReportSchneiderMPA.pdf

The primary goal of Marine Protected Areas is to conserve and protect part or all of a marine environment through legal or other effective means. MPAs are a global phenomenon that has become part of national level ocean policy and practice in such nations as Australia, Canada, and the US. Marine protected areas depend, for their success, on the development of an informal network of local policy and practice, which varies among communities. They succeed in circumstances where national policy or legal precedent does not dissolve local policy and practice, and where national policy facilitates and can accommodate local arrangements. The collapse of fisheries in the late 20th century in Canada provided the political impetus and policy framework that increased the capacity of the federal government to accommodate local arrangements in marine waters through Canada’s Oceans Act 1996. Two Marine Protected Areas, at Eastport and Gilbert Bay, were designated in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2005 under the Oceans Act, and a third, at Leading Tickles, is in the development stage. Eastport has a research program on lobsters in place, Gilbert Bay has a program on ‘golden cod’, but no research program existed at Leading Tickles. DFO Oceans began to collect data and worked closely with community members to develop research priorities, carry out research projects and develop management programs for each MPA. The provincial government was involved as members of the MPA steering committees, and local representatives provided input. Based on the political momentum for Marine Protected Areas, the second objective of this project was to identify internationally significant science questions for research within Newfoundland and Labrador. Recent research conducted by Memorial University at the Gilbert Bay and Eastport MPAs and the Leading Tickles Area of Interest (AOI) has been a mixture of descriptive and causal science directed at local issues arising within each of the three locations (two MPAs and one AOI). Past research helped to ...