Question Period Note: Northern Shelf Bioregion Marine Protected Area Network Action Plan

How is this government advancing the Northern Shelf Bioregion Marine Protected Area Network Action Plan?

• The Department remains committed to working with partners to develop a planned approach for a network of marine protected areas in the Northern Shelf Bioregion.
• A draft Marine Protected Area Network Action Plan was collaboratively developed by the Government of Canada, Province of British Columbia and First Nations and released publicly in the fall of 2022 for consultation. The anticipated completion date for a final plan is February 2023.
• The Department is committed to considering new marine protected areas as proposed in the Network Action Plan to protect marine biodiversity in the Northern Shelf Bioregion, and in support of Canada’s 2025 and 2030 Marine Conservation Targets.

Northern Shelf Bioregion Network Action Plan
• The Government of Canada, the Province of British Columbia, and 17 First Nations have been working collaboratively since 2014 to develop a Marine Protected Area (MPA) Network Action Plan (NAP) to guide the implementation of a MPA network in the Northern Shelf Bioregion. Indigenous and public consultation on the NAP was scheduled for January 2022, but progress was delayed [Information was severed in accordance with the Access to Information Act.]
• A revised draft NAP was released for Indigenous consultation on August 15, 2022, and for public and stakeholder engagement on September 12, 2022. DFO is working with partners towards endorsement of the NAP in time for announcement at the 5th International Marine Protected Areas Congress, to be held in Vancouver in February 2023.

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