Ottawa, BC, and 15 west coast First Nations are endorsing a new Marine Protected Area Network Action Plan.
Developed through two decades of collaboration, the Plan seeks to protect portions of the 100,000 square kilometre Northern Shelf Bioregion.
It stretches from northern Vancouver Island, through the Great Bear Rainforest and Haida Gwaii, all the way to the southern Alaska border.
Under the plan, a network of Marine Protected Areas would be established covering roughly a third of the region as a whole.
MPAs help to sustain and rebuild ecosystems by restricting land use and incorporating First Nations’ knowledge and land management practices.
Over half of the proposed network is already made up of MPAs, with up to 50 percent targeted for high-level protection, which bans commercial, recreational, and industrial fishing.
Nations along the north coast to endorse the plan include: the Kitsumkalum, Kitselas, Gitga’at, Gitxaala, Haisla, Metlakatla, and Haida Nations.
