On December 31, 2016 Environment Canada posted its notice of intent to establish the Scott Islands Marine National Wildlife Area. The islands and surrounding marine ecosystem are both globally and nationally significant, and support the most important breeding colonies for seabirds in British Columbia, such as tufted puffins, high concentrations of humpback and North Pacific gray whales, and Canada’s largest stellar sea lion breeding rookery.
The West Coast Environmental Law Association applauds the government’s efforts to increase the amount of marine space dedicated to conservation, and welcomes the introduction of Canada’s first marine National Wildlife Area (mNWA). In order to truly celebrate this precedent-setting new designation, we recommend that the proposed regulations for this area be significantly strengthened, so that permitted activities in designated Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are compatible both with the purposes for which they are established and with Canada’s marine conservation objectives.
This submission to the Canadian Wildlife Service contains our proposed amendments to strengthen the proposed regulations for the Scott Islands Marine National Wildlife Area .