Marine protected areas · •Several NGOs question the MPA file in Quebec •Symposium on Marine Protected Areas (2010) •Organized by CPAWS •Petition •Recommendation: Set up

Marine

protected areas:

Quebec region overview

National Advisory Panel on

Marine Protected Area

Standards

July 9th 2018

Anne Lagacé

Director, Oceans & Species at risk Management

Banc-des-Américains, Québec.

Claude Savenkoff, MPO.

Presentation Objectives

• Portrait of the Quebec Region

• History of the development of marine protected

areas in Quebec

• Canada-Quebec Agreement and next steps

2

Beluga David Gaspard , DFO

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Quebec Region

• Quebec City regional

office

• Fisheries management

• Other programs

• Maurice-Lamontagne

Institute

• Sciences

• Ecosystem

management

• Area offices

3

Québec

City

regional

office

Mont-Joli :

Maurice-

Lamontagne

Institute

Sept-Iles

area office

Gaspé

area office

Magdalenan

Islands area

office

DFO- Quebec Region

• Territory covering the

whole province:

• 6000 km of coastline

• The St. Lawrence

river, its estuary and

part of its Gulf

• Eastern James Bay,

eastern Hudson Bay,

southern Hudson

Strait and Ungava

Bay

4

Québec Government

Complex issues:

No recognition of the Oceans Act

Differences of interpretation as to territorial

boundaries

Shared jurisdictions

5

• Canada • Marine protected areas

• Aquatic species at risk

• Fisheries

• Marine transportation

• Navigation

• Natural resources

• Québec : • Protected areas

• Aquatic species at risk

• Fisheries for fresh water,

anadromous and

catadromous species

• Fisheries product processing

• Natural resources

Québec Government

Agreements:

Canada-Quebec Agreement on the St. Lawrence (1988)

Collaborative Agreement for the Protection and Recovery

of Species at Risk in Quebec (2007)

Agreement on Joint Management of Petroleum Resources in

the Gulf of St. Lawrence (2011)

Canada-Quebec Agreement for the Establishment of a

Network of Marine Protected Areas in Quebec (2018)

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Indigenous partners

• More than 90,000 Indigenous person

• Land Claims Agreements • James Bay and Northern Quebec

Agreement

• Nunavik Inuit Land Claims

Agreement

• Eeyou Marine Region Land Claim

Agreement

• Negotiations in progress • Mashteuiatsh, Essipit and

Natashquan

• Mi'gmaq and Maliseet

7

Key stakeholders for MPA

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• Industry

• Mid-shore and coastal fishermen grouped in about 40 associations

• Shipping Federation of Canada

• Green Marine

• Hydro-Québec

• Academic and research institutions

• Institute of Marine Sciences

• University of Quebec at Rimouski

• Merinov

• NGO

• Priority Intervention Areas (ZIP) Committees

• Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS)

• Marine Mammal Observation Network (ROMM)

Brief portrait of human activities

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• Aboriginal Fisheries

• Commercial Fisheries

• Maritime transport

• Whale watching activities

• Oil and gas


Aboriginal fisheries

• Mi’gmaq, Maliseet and

Innus

• 11 communities

• Food, social and ceremonial fisheries

• Commercial fisheries

• Whale watching

• Nunavik Inuit

• 14 communities

• Molluscs harvesting, fishing

and marine mammal

hunting

• Shrimp and Greenland

halibut commercial

fisheries

• Eeyou Istchee Cris

• 9 communities

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H.F. Ellefsen, MPO


Commercial fisheries

• Landings = approx. 57 181 tons or 238.5 M$ (2015)

• Key species : Shrimp, snow crab and lobster

• 70 % of volume et 90 % of value

http://www.qc.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/images/custom/CartePorts800.jpg


Marine transportation

13


Oil & Gas

Towards marine protected areas:

a DFO-Quebec region history

• Oceans Act – 1996

• Identification of 67 areas of

interest(1998)

• Manicouagan pilot project

(1998)

• St. Lawrence Estuary pilot

project (1999)

Baleine noire Katherine Gavrilchuk, MPO



• Manicouagan pilot project (1998)

• Biophysical and socio-economic study, including 8 public

sessions (1999)

• Establishment of a Technical Committee including the

community of Pessamit and a local ENGO

• Development of the management plan (15 meetings)

• Consultations (2001) and Summary Report (2002)

• Development of regulations

• Characterization of habitats and species

• Ecological monitoring framework

• Gazette 1 (2006)

• Joint work plan (2008)




a DFO-Quebec region history • St. Lawrence Estuary pilot project(1999)

• Biophysical characterization and uses (1999)

• Socio-economic study (2000)

• Marine mammal scientific workshops (2000, 2002, 2003)

• Aboriginal information sessions (2003)

• Consultations (2004-2005)

• Studies of interactions between seals and fishing activities (2005)

• Report on navigation noise (2006)

• Workshop with the whale watching industry (2006)

• Protocol for harbor seals trapped in fishing gear (2007)

• Regulatory intent(2008)



• Publication in Gazette 1 of the Manicouagan MPA

(2006) • Quebec asks to suspend the project and proposes the creation

of the Bilateral Group on Marine Protected Areas (GBAMP)

(2007)

• Work held behind closed doors for 3 years

• Several NGOs question the MPA file in Quebec

• Symposium on Marine Protected Areas (2010) • Organized by CPAWS

• Petition

• Recommendation: Set up a round table co-chaired by Quebec and Canada, including local communities, First

Nations and various stakeholders to establish a network of

MPAs in Quebec.



• Attempts to establish MPA Governance

• Renewal of the Canada / Quebec Agreement on the St. Lawrence (2011)

• Inclusion of a MPA component

• Creation of the Quebec government Working Group on the Marine Biodiversity Conservation (2012)

• Has to make recommendations to the Quebec Minister

• Clear objectives

• Challenge: Information sharing, intergovernmental coordination and decision making



• Development of a Canada / Quebec "coordinated approach" (2013)

• Beginning of negotiations for a Canada-Quebec Agreement (2014)

• Federal initiative to protect 10% of the marine environment (2015)

• Challenge: meeting this objective within the Canada-Quebec context



• Federal approach to draft a marine protected areas network (2016-2017)

• Nearly 50 meetings with different stakeholders

• Eastern Canada Corals and Sponges Conservation Strategy

• 11 sites in the Gulf

• Fishing closure to any gear touching the sea bottom

• Consultations (Nov 2016 to July 2017)

• Establishment of marine refuges (2017)

• Not taken into account by Quebec government



• Canada-Quebec Agreement for the Establishment of a Marine Protected Areas Network in Quebec

• Announcement of a first joint project (June 2018)

• Banc-des-Americans

• Joint selection, planning and implementation of MPA projects

• Collaboration to reach respective commitments

• Sharing ecological and socio-economic information

• No territory cession

• Bilateral Group on Marine Protected Areas

• Implementation of the Agreement

• recommendations to their respective authorities

Joint project for a Banc-des-Américains

marine protected area

24



• First joint project for marine protected area

under the Agreement

• Double status, same conservation goals

• Aquatic Reserve (Natural Heritage

Conservation Act, Quebec)

• Marine Protected Area (Oceans Act)

• Publication in Canada Gazette Part I

• Public consultation on the proposed federal

regulations

• Public comments to be taken into

consideration in finalizing the regulations for the

new marine protected area (Fall 2018).

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Conservation goal and objectives for the area of interest.

Goal : To promote the productivity and diversity of fishery resources

associated with the American Bank and adjacent plains,

and the recovery of species that are in a precarious situation

Objective A

Conserve and protect benthic (seabed) habitats

Objective B

Conserve and protect pelagic (water column) habitats and

forage species (prey)

Objective C

Promote the recovery of at-risk whales and wolffish

Synthesis of Banc-des-Américains

regulatory intent

27

General prohibition: It is prohibited to carry out any activity that disturbs, damages, destroys or removes any living marine organism or any part of its habitat, or is likely

to do so.

Activity EXCEPTIONS TO THE GENERAL PROHIBITION (PERMITTED ACTIVITIES)

ZONE 1 ZONE 2

Commercial fishing No exception (prohibited) • Fishing that uses: traps, longlines, handlines or angling.

• Fishing not targeting forage species: capelin, herring,

mackerel, sandlance, krill, copepods.

Recreational fishing No exception (prohibited) Fishing using a handline or angling

Aboriginal fishing Harvest for food, social and ceremonial purposes Harvest for food, social and ceremonial purposes

Aquaculture No exception (prohibited) No exception (prohibited)

Exploration and extraction of oil, gas

and minerals

No exception (prohibited) No exception (prohibited)

Navigation (commercial, non-

commercial, foreign, recreational)

Allowed under applicable Canadian legislation

No anchoring allowed

No sewage or greywater discharge allowed for ship

of ≥400 gross tonnage or certified to carry ≥15

persons

Allowed under applicable Canadian legislation

No sewage or greywater discharge allowed for ship

of ≥400 gross tonnage or certified to carry ≥15

persons

Cables No exception (prohibited) No exception (prohibited)

Infrastructures (platforms, wind

turbines, piles, seafloor structures)

No exception (prohibited) No exception (prohibited)

Emergency, safety, security and

sovereignty

Activities carried out for :

public safety

national defense and security

law enforcement

responding to an emergency

Activities carried out for :

public safety

national defense and security

law enforcement

responding to an emergency

Scientific research or monitoring,

habitat restoration, commercial

marine tourism and educational

activities

Permitted if :

the proponent submits an activity plan to DFO

the plan is approved by the Minister

achievement of the conservation objectives is not

compromised

Permitted if :

the proponent submits an activity plan to DFO

the plan is approved by the Minister

achievement of the conservation objectives is not

compromised

Next steps

• Consultation for the selection of areas of interest

• Designation of other marine protected areas for 2020

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Question period

29

Jeune béluga David Gaspard , MPO

Documents

Marine protected areas · •Several NGOs question the MPA file in Quebec •Symposium on Marine Protected Areas (2010) •Organized by CPAWS •Petition •Recommendation: Set up