Fisheries committee  For every MPA we establish, we create an advisory committee, and that advisory committee not only supports the work we do to establish the site, but also remains in place throughout the long-term management of the area. We use that committee as the venue to bring drafts of manage

Fisheries committee  The first point I would make is that the marine conservation targets and the work we're doing with marine protected areas apply to the marine environment and not to the Great Lakes. That said, Parks Canada does pursue national marine conservation areas and they do have national m

Fisheries committee  It's aquatic.

Fisheries committee  The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans still has the authority to manage fisheries within areas designated under Minister McKenna's authority, thus the national marine conservation areas. We do have the authority to manage those fisheries in NMCAs.

Fisheries committee  But we are not pursuing Oceans Act marine protected areas in fresh water, because our legislation restricts us to the marine environment.

Fisheries committee  It's Parks Canada.

Fisheries committee  It did not?

Fisheries committee  Our approach to MPA establishment is to take it site by site. We identify our conservation objectives and we understand the human uses, and we prohibit those human uses that are posing a risk to the conservation objectives. In some cases there will be impacts to fishers. They may

Fisheries committee  Again, it's on a site-by-site basis, and we look at the science in the area to understand the predatory nature of the species that are there. We're looking not only at how the ecosystem is functioning but also at how humans are impacting on the conservation priorities.

Fisheries committee  Where there are issues with predatory species, we might take additional measures to better understand the dynamics occurring within that ecosystem. We may undertake additional science to understand whether a particular species is having an impact on another, and should science su

Fisheries committee  We are indeed working towards the 10% target, but we view that as a floor rather than a ceiling. One of the reasons why we're pursuing marine protected area networks in our priority bioregions is to develop a long-term strategy to increase protection and the percentage of the are

Fisheries committee  There is a range of scientific views in scientific publications, but there's not one definitive view within the scientific community that 10% is the right number. There are certainly scientific papers that support 10%, but there are others that support different percentages. Ther

Fisheries committee  Just to add to that, this area, which we refer to as a marine refuge, meets DFO's operational criteria for what constitutes another effective area-based conservation measure. It does so because we have specific conservation objectives in this case that have been brought in to inc

Fisheries committee  I'm the acting director of marine conservation programs.

Fisheries committee  Yes, all of the sites that add up to the 7.75% are available on the DFO website.