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Home  Infocentre Publications
Building a Network – An Innovative Approach
This Federal Marine Protected Areas Strategy helps set the foundation for
developing a marine protected areas network in Canada and aims to increase
the ecological effectiveness and connectivity between individual marine protected
areas in an effort to conserve and protect the structure and function of marine
ecosystems. The Strategy recognizes that marine protected areas may work at
various scales, ranging from local to hemispheric to global. The Strategy also
highlights the importance of establishing a network of marine protected areas
within a broader sustainable ocean management planning framework and creating
linkages to transboundary, international and terrestrial protected area networks.
 In addition to the ecological complexities of the marine environment, there
are also a number of institutional challenges
to Canada ’s progress in
restoring the health of our coastal and marine environments. For example, there
are three federal departments and agencies with a specific mandate to establish
and manage marine protected areas, each with its own objectives and management
approaches. Although these programs are complementary, and contribute to one
overall objective, communication and collaboration between the three federal
departments have not always been consistent and have tended to evolve opportunistically.
Where collaboration has occurred, the results have been very positive. The
Strategy seeks to build on these successes and ensure continued collaboration
in the development of a federal network of marine protected areas.
To build on the momentum already underway in many areas of Canada , formalized
institutional mechanisms such as Memoranda of Understanding and interdepartmental
working groups, at both national and regional levels,may be used to ensure
that Canada ’s
marine protected areas network is developed and managed in an inclusive, coordinated
and complementary fashion. The development
of strategic partnerships, and the ability to draw from the individual strengths
of each department, will increase our collective ability to establish and manage
marine protected areas, conduct research, monitor marine protected area effectiveness,
as well as develop education and outreach initiatives in a co-operative and
cost-effective manner.
This co-ordinated and transparent approach to planning and establishing a
network of marine protected areas will also provide a greater level of certainty
and
clarity to ocean users. The development of baseline scientific information
within an integrated or strategic planning area, including the analysis and
identification of ecologically and biologically significant areas and candidate
representative areas will contribute to ecosystem health while at the same
time support sustainable development activities.
Its intent is to clarify the roles and responsibilities of federal departments
and agencies with marine protected area mandates and illustrate how federal
marine protected area programs can collectively be used to create a complementary
and cohesive network of marine protected areas. It also serves to identify
those other departments and agencies that, by virtue of their responsibilities
within Canada ’s ocean environment, may have a role to play in the establishment
and management of marine protected areas.
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