Oceans Management at Work

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Our Oceans Our Marine Life Our Ocean Economy Our Oceans Strategy Oceans Management at Work Your Role - Get informed and involved! Contact DFO’s Communications Branch
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Federal, provincial and territorial governments play a role in managing our oceans, as do Aboriginal peoples who have a number of treaty and non-treaty rights related to ocean and coastal activities.

The Government of Canada has established five Large Ocean Management Areas (LOMAs) where integrated oceans management plans are being developed for the management of each of these ocean areas. More LOMAs should be identified in the future to ensure integrated oceans management plans are in place for all of Canada's ocean areas.

These LOMAs are typically thousands of square kilometres in size, with boundaries determined using a combination of ecological and administrative considerations. The scientific and planning work conducted within an individual LOMA will help decision makers responsible for ocean activities to plan and manage human activities in a comprehensive manner, while considering all measures necessary for the conservation, protection and sustainable use of ocean resources and the shared use of ocean areas.

National Aerial Surveillance Program - Preventing pollution from entering our oceans is a matter that the Government of Canada takes very seriously. The National Aerial Surveillance Program (NASP) is one of the main pillars of Transport Canada's Pollution Prevention Program.

The NASP was established in 1991 to detect pollution violations and enforce international conventions and domestic legislation. The program conducts aerial surveillance over all waters under Canadian jurisdiction by using four patrol aircraft, which are strategically placed across Canada. Since assuming control of the program in 2003, Transport Canada has doubled the number of patrol hours, expanded to areas not previously patrolled (such as the Arctic and the Labrador Coast) and acquired maritime surveillance equipment, for the surveillance aircraft, ideally suited for detecting oil pollution from ships.