Canadian Arctic Marine Conservation Strategy

Provides a framework for the conservation and management of arctic marine ecosystems in the Canadian north, both to preserve and conserve.

Highlights the need for and role of Canadian arctic marine conservation strategy. Text in English and Inuktitut syllabics.

This book deals with Canada's oceans management policies since the conclusion of the 1982 Convention of the Law of the Sea. That Convention set out a jurisdictional framework for the management of the world's oceans, but it did not provide states with precise guidance on all the issues that can arise. As a state with one of the world's longest coastlines, Canada was one of the principal beneficiaries under the 1982 Convention regime. A study of Canadian policy is particularly significant, as Canadian oceans management places in relief many of the difficult questions yet to be resolved.

As climate change, resource overexploitation, and pollution leave ever more visible marks, ocean ecosystems, economies, and people are all affected. With coasts on the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic, Canada faces a formidable challenge in building resilient, sustainable oceans and supporting the communities that rely on them. Sea Change reports on the OceanCanada Partnership, a multidisciplinary project to take stock of what we know about Canada’s oceans, construct possible scenarios for coastal regions, and create a national dialogue and vision. Three themes emerge from this impressive synthesis of social, cultural, economic, and environmental research: ocean change, access to ocean resources, and ocean governance. Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars and practitioners focus on finding solutions to rapid environmental and social transformation, outlining the implications for legislation and offering policy recommendations. Increasingly, civil society will have to advocate for oceans, and Sea Change will empower the voices of those who take up that task.

The National Marine Conservation Areas System Plan is an important step in the process of creating a finite network of national marine conservation areas. The plan sets out an approach for the system's design in which Canada's three bordering oceans and the Great Lakes have been divided into 29 distinct marine regions, with a long-term goal of having a national marine conservation area within each region. The plan also attempts to portray each marine region with descriptions of its wildlife, marine and coastal environments, and current status of conservation areas in the region. The appendix includes a glossary and a list of marine-associated species assigned a status by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.