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Pacific north coast integrated management area plan

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Appendix 2: PNCIMA Supporting Documents

The report Ecosystem Overview: Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA), published in 2007, provides an overview of the physical and biological ecosystems in PNCIMA, including descriptions of physical processes, trophic structure, biomass and habitat in the area. www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/328842.pdf

To help identify areas of particular ecological significance, Fisheries and Oceans Canada evaluated important areas within PNCIMA against a set of scientific criteria, which led to the identification of 16 Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs):

  • Hecate Strait Front
  • McIntyre Bay
  • Dogfish Bank
  • Learmouth Bank
  • Brooks Peninsula
  • Cape St. James
  • Shelf Break
  • Scott Islands
  • North Island Straits
  • Sponge Reefs (4 areas)
  • Chatham Sound
  • Caamano Sound
  • River mouths and estuaries

Additional information on the EBSA identification process and the EBSAs themselves is provided in Identification of Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas in the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area: Phase II – Final Report (Clark and Jamieson 2006: www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/326796.pdf). In 2011-2012, three additional coastal EBSAs were identified in PNCIMA, particularly in the archipelago-fjord complex that characterizes the mainland coast of British Columbia. The EBSA profiles of Brooks Peninsula and Scott Islands were modified, and the Haida Gwaii Nearshore, Central Mainland Nearshore and Bella Bella Nearshore were added (DFO, Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS), Research Document - 2014/101 (CSAS resdocs - 2014/101).

Building on work undertaken in 2007 to develop the Marine Use Analysis of the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area, a scoping workshop was held in 2010 to obtain stakeholder and expert input into the 2012 report, Socio-Economic and Cultural Overview and Assessment Report for the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area. The report provides a summary and synthesis of the best available information on socio-economic and cultural values and issues, including profiling of the status, trends and outlook of coastal communities bordering the planning area, the role of the marine environment in shaping the region‘s cultural values, and the ocean’s contribution to selected economic activities.

An Atlas of the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area, which contains 63 maps showing where human activities occur in PNCIMA and detailing important ecological, hydrological and oceanographic features and communities, was developed by the collaborative governance partners and was completed in 2011. Atlas of the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area.

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