A review of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Parks Canada's marine protected areas program and their role in Canadian fisheries management

The term "Marine Protected Areas" (MPAs) is a generic phrase which has been used worldwide for over two decades to describe marine reserves, marine parks, marine sanctuaries and marine areas with special protection, although the concept of MPAs has been around for nearly a century. MPAs serve many different purposes and are established for a variety of reasons. Essentially, they are regions that have been reserved by law to protect all, or parts, of a designated marine environment. -- MPA programs throughout the world have been well received by a growing number of countries and have been actively promoted by a variety of organizations such as the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Currently, there are approximately 1300 MPAs worldwide. -- The approaches used for planning and managing MPAs have evolved considerably over time and have provided an additional management tool to protect, maintain, or restore natural and cultural resources in coastal and marine waters. The phrase MPA, when used in its generic sense, can hold many different meanings based primarily on the level of protection provided. These levels of protection can range from areas closed to public access, to sites that permit access but do not allow consumptive uses. They have been used effectively both nationally and internationally to conserve biodiversity, manage natural resources, protect endangered species, reduce user conflicts, provide educational and research opportunities, and enhance commercial and recreational activities. -- Canada has adopted its own MPA program that is administered through the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) under the authority of the Oceans Act, with a mandated responsibility to establish and create protected areas. The DFO acts as the lead federal authority for Canada and has adopted the traditional generic term "Marine Protected Areas" as the title for their own departmental program. Other federal departments are also involved in MPA programs in Canada, but under different names, and are designed with long-term goals similar to those of the DFO. -- This paper will review the development of MPAs from an international perspective, and will also review the role of two federal protected area programs in Canada, Parks Canada's National Marine Conservation Areas program (NMCA) and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Marine Protected Areas program, in advancing marine conservation in an efficient and effective manner. In this paper the DFOs MPA and Parks Canada's NMCA programs will be integrated and referred to by the generic term MPAs