(St. Anns Bank off the coast of Cape Breton is designated as the latest marine-protected area for Nova Scotia.)
(Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Photo)
A fisherman in Yarmouth says the pressure is mounting on the federal government to increase the number of marine protected areas.
DFO wants to double the number of mpa’s around Nova Scotia next year.
It identified 52 special areas within the 475,000-square-kilometre region along the Atlantic coast and in the Bay of Fundy
that are in the running for the designation.
Bernie Berry of the Coldwater Lobster Association says that puts fishermen in a difficult position.
He says while they know that marine protected areas’s are put in place to protect biodoversity which helps lobster stocks,
they also can limit fishermen’s livelihoods and affect local economies by banning or restricting fishing activities.
Berry says fishermen need to become more engaged and become part of the process along with DFO and environmental groups.
“It is a concern. We’re going to have to be involved in the process. There’s a lot of pressure, internationally and nationally for
these type of protected areas. We have to be engaged. We have to be part of the decision making process.”
Read more DFO’s Marine Protected Areas document:
http://waves-vagues.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/341100e.pdf
In 1992, Canada, along with the most other developed countries, signed the Convention on Biological Diversity.
It’s aim is to conserve at least 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas by 2020.
