WWF welcomes announcement of candidate sites for marine protection

(June 8, 2011 – Halifax, Nova Scotia): WWF is encouraged by today’s first step towards the establishment of Oceans Act Marine Protected Areas (MPA) by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). The three new candidate sites or Areas of Interest (AOI) are: St Anns Bank (NS), Shediac Valley (NB) and American Bank (QC).

“We are pleased that three new MPA candidate sites have been announced, as the protection of vulnerable marine habitats is essential to the health and sustainable use of our oceans,” said Dr. Bettina Saier, Oceans Director, WWF. “Sites like these are often chosen for their habitat characteristics and high fish and invertebrate species diversity. St Anns Bank, for example, has all of this as home to the Atlantic wolffish, endangered leatherback turtles, Atlantic cod, and cold water corals.”

In May 2009, WWF, the Ecology Action Centre and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society released a study showing networks of MPAs are much more effective in protecting marine biodiversity and supporting ecosystem services than isolated MPAs. The benefits include more plants and animals per cubic metre of ocean, a wider range of species, and larger fish that produce more young – which could lead to a rebound of overfished stocks and mean long-term profits for fishing communities and sustainable seafood markets.

“Today’s designations are important. It’s essential that single protected sites become linked through regional MPA networks, providing more comprehensive protection of Canada’s oceans,” said Saier. “To guide regional network planning, WWF is very much looking forward to the release of DFO’s National Framework for Establishing and Managing Marine Protected Areas in the coming months.”

In 2004, Canada made a commitment to create a comprehensive, effectively managed, and ecologically representative network of MPAs by 2012. During the recent 10th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Canada revised the commitment to the conservation of 10 per cent of its marine areas through the establishment of an ecologically representative and well connected system of protected areas by 2020.

“We are looking forward to St Anns Bank, Shediac Valley and American Bank being designated as MPAs and, more importantly, being integrated into a regional network plan for Canada’s Network of MPAs,” said Saier. “Canada’s delivery of its national and international commitments to MPA networks will create greater ecological and economical health for our oceans if implemented in a timely manner.”

For further information and to arrange interviews please contact:
Riannon John
416-347-1894
[email protected]

Background
The Shediac Valley Area of Interest (AOI) is an area rich in biodiversity in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is located east of New Brunswick and north-west of Prince Edward Island and covers an area of 1,530 km². The area plays an important role in various biological functions (feeding, refuge, nursery and spawning) for a variety of fish species including many commercial species. In particular, it is used by Atlantic Cod for summer feeding and as a nursery ground. Other species of conservation interest are also in the area, such as American Plaice and Winter Skate. Protection of this area will contribute to the survival and recovery of healthy and abundant aquatic resources.

American Bank is a submarine bank lying off the eastern tip of the Gaspé Peninsula in the Quebec portion of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It has a least depth of 12 m and comprises two shelves separated by a sharp ridge. American Bank lies entirely within the 1,000 km2 Area of Interest. The area is characterized by the diversity of its habitats, seasonal or year-round occurrence of many commercially important species and whales, the presence of species at risk and a high diversity of molluscs and crustaceans. The area also has significant potential as a feeding ground for various species of fish and marine mammals and as refuge habitat for declining groundfish populations, including the southern Gulf cod stock.
The St Anns Bank AOI is located offshore on the Eastern Scotian Shelf, east of Scatarie Island off Cape Breton, and is the only major bank on the inner Scotian Shelf. It encompasses an area of approximately 5,100 km2. Its key ecological features include being part of a migration corridor for fish and marine mammals moving in and out of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and St. Lawrence Estuary and an important habitat for Atlantic wolffish. St Anns Bank is also a significant summer foraging area for endangered leatherback turtles and overwintering habitat for the Sydney Bight and southern Gulf of St. Lawrence populations of Atlantic cod. The area is home to sensitive bottom habitats and species, such as cold water corals. It is also the only major bank on the inner Scotian Shelf, which provides the area with unique habitat characteristics and high fish and invertebrate species diversity.

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