CFN member Nations, along with other First Nations and federal and provincial governments, are working collaboratively on long-term efforts to advance ecosystem-based management of marine areas across the North Pacific Coast—an unprecedented initiative that is breaking new ground in terms of Indigenous co-governance.

Planners have created the Great Bear Sea Marine Protected Areas (MPA) network to protect the region’s ecosystems and abundant marine life, including salmon, eulachon, herring and other culturally important species, while ensuring resource uses that sustain coastal livelihoods.

The MPAs will protect marine biological diversity, including threatened and ecologically significant species and habitats, as well as First Nations’ cultural priorities and traditional harvesting uses.

The Great Bear Sea is also called the Northern Shelf Bioregion—one of 13 ecological bioregions identified for protection across Canada. The MPA network planning process covers the same geographic area as two other marine planning processes in our traditional waters:

• Marine Plan Partnership for the North Pacific Coast (MaPP)
• Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA)

The ultimate goal of this planning effort is to establish an ecologically comprehensive, resilient and representative network of marine protected areas that protects the biological diversity and health of the marine environment for present and future generations.