Why We’re Exploring an NMCAR for Our Coast

Whale breaching

Central Coast Nations are undergoing a feasibility assessment, in collaboration with Parks Canada and the BC Government, to decide whether a National Marine Conservation Area Reserve (NMCAR) is the best way to successfully implement a Marine Protected Area on our coast.

The assessment will look at the benefits to our Nations, and to other communities on the coast, across multiple areas, including how an NMCAR would affect governance, place-based planning, or marine jurisdiction, and assessing potential implications for various sectors, such as commercial and recreational fishing, marine transportation, tourism, mining, and forestry.

Only after the feasibility assessment is complete in March 2024 will our Nations decide whether to move ahead with the NMCAR process, in discussion with the BC Government and Parks Canada. You can find out more about the process here.

Benefits of an NMCAR

  • Increased Decision Making: Our Nations would work with partners to make decisions about fisheries management, monitoring, and enforcement in our territories.
  • Economic Opportunities: NMCARs can offer a range of economic benefits to the communities that utilize them, including employment opportunities and increased infrastructure and equipment for Nations to use. Some of the anticipated opportunities include:
    • Increased fishing opportunities for Nations’ commercial fishers outside of the protected areas, where rebounded fish populations will support increased catch.
    • Increased financial and employment benefits for monitoring and managing the NMCAR.
    • Improved tourism opportunities for Nation individuals and businesses.
  • Restoring Healthy Ecosystems: The NMCAR would include all marine waters, water column and ocean bottom, therefore prioritizing Indigenous protection approaches that our Nations have used for thousands of years. The management of the protected area will also ensure prioritization of cultural conservation in the development of any management plan.
  • All traditional use would continue, including harvesting, cultural and social use: The NMCAR would include no-take zones to protect critical habitats. However, food, social, and ceremonial fishing would continue throughout the NMCAR.
  • Reserve Designation: The “Reserve” in the name “NMCAR” acknowledges Nations’ unceded territory, meaning that in the future a portion of the NMCAR can be removed or changed at the Nations’ behest when rights and title over the area is confirmed through courts, treaty or litigation.
  • Renewed Opportunities for Fishers: A significant number of areas currently being fished on the Central Coast would remain accessible to commercial fisheries. In areas where NMCARs or equivalent have already been established, evidence shows fishers’ catches significantly increase. In New Zealand, fishers were found to be most successful in their catch just outside the MPA, where populations that have rebounded in the protected area migrate outside.
  • Capacity Building: Entering into an NMCAR would allow for funding for Nation-led protection and monitoring services and other opportunities for economic and educational opportunities.

More information about the benefits, and potential risks, of implementing an NMCAR will be shared in the feasibility assessment in March 2024.

Featured images: Douglas Neasloss

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