| dc.description.abstract | With increasing use of and dependence on the ocean, conflict between human uses and between human use and a healthy marine environment are certain. To address this, efforts to develop ecosystem based management that recognize the intersections between marine life and human uses, including the process of marine spatial planning, have emerged prominently. The Government of Canada has committed to delivering marine spatial plans and has a mandate to enact conservation via the Oceans Act. Currently, Canada has over 100 laws and regulations that pertain to marine conservation, with diverse objectives that could be considered when developing marine spatial planning. Through qualitative document analysis, this research analyzes the existing suite of marine conservation regulatory tools to determine how marine spatial planning might strategically employ tools to achieve particular objectives. This study identified seven distinct conservation objectives that broadly prioritize human activities, ecosystems, and species, and determined which objectives could be achieved within each Canadian planning region using existing regulatory tools. This study provides insight on how marine spatial planning might enhance marine conservation outcomes in the current regulatory framework, ensuring that marine spatial plans prioritize marine ecosystems and employ fit-for-purpose conservation tools, supporting the blue economy and long-term ocean sustainability in Canada.
Key words: marine spatial planning, marine conservation, ecosystem based management, marine protected area, marine law, qualitative methods. | en_US |
