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Federal Marine Protected Areas Strategy

The Oceans Act provides the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans with a leadership role for coordinating the development and implementation of a federal network of marine protected areas. The responsibility for the network is shared between three federal departments and agencies with mandated responsibilities to establish and manage marine protected areas – Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Parks Canada Agency and Environment Canada.

Canada’s federal marine protected area network is comprised of three core programs including:

• Oceans Act Marine Protected Areas established by Fisheries and Oceans Canada to protect and conserve important fish and marine mammal habitats, endangered marine species, unique features and areas of high biological productivity or biodiversity.
• Marine Wildlife Areas established by Environment Canada to protect and conserve habitat for a variety of wildlife including migratory birds and endangered species.
• National Marine Conservation Areas established by Parks Canada to protect and conserve representative examples of Canada’s natural and cultural marine heritage and provide opportunities for public education and enjoyment.

The Federal Marine Protected Area Strategy outlines how these departments and agencies will work together to establish a comprehensive network of marine protected areas that will conserve and protect Canada’s natural and cultural marine resources.

Table of Contents

© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 2005

Cat. No. Fs23-472/2005E-HTML
ISBN 0-662-40570-6

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