WCEL Submission to DFO's Ecologically Significant Areas Draft National Framework

In Fall 2022, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) opened an engagement process to collect feedback on the draft National Framework for Identifying, Establishing, and Managing Ecologically Significant Areas (ESAs). 

ESAs are an area-based management tool, established under the Fisheries Act, with the purpose of providing long-term protection and conservation of key areas of fish and fish habitat.

This submission contains West Coast Environmental Law's recommendations regarding:

• legal elements of the Framework that should be strengthened to ensure effective implementation on the water;
• the application of Ecologically Significant Areas (ESAs) to the marine environment; and
• potential candidate sites for ESAs in the Pacific region.