Marine Plan Implementation on BC's North Pacific Coast

With high levels of First Nation, provincial, federal and stakeholder participation, the Northern Shelf Bio-region(NSB) of British Columbia, Canada is a hotbed of marine planning and management initiatives. Marine planning in... [ view full abstract ]

With high levels of First Nation, provincial, federal and stakeholder participation, the Northern Shelf Bio-region(NSB) of British Columbia, Canada is a hotbed of marine planning and management initiatives. Marine planning in the region has ranged in jurisdiction, scale and scope for a variety of political and operational reasons.  These processes include community-based marine planning by First Nations, biodiversity-focused protected area planning (NSB MPA Network), detailed sub-regional planning (Marine Plan Partnership-MaPP), and broad-scale, policy-oriented strategic planning (Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area-PNCIMA).   Related initiatives include a new multi-million dollar federal Ocean Protection Program, that seeks to enhance marine safety through 57 different projects.  This will initiate fine scale community-based emergency response planning, as well as regional collaborative work on marine transport and shipping.  First Nations have co-lead or participated significantly in all these processes and developed extensive marine planning capacity and expertise over the last decade.  First Nations strive to integrate these disparate initiatives through progressive governance arrangements, rigorous research and analysis, collaborative policy development and ongoing community engagement in order to ensure that aboriginal rights and values are respected and protected through all marine planning initiatives.  Through an approach that nests operational and governance structures, sub-regional alignment and regional coordination, First Nations are a key driver in marine planning and the harmonization of diverse processes for marine conservation and sustainable development.