Over the past few years, The Government of Canada has emphasized the importance of improving the protection of marine environments. At the 2010 United Nations Conference on Biological Diversity (UN CBD), the Government agreed to meet twenty biodiversity targets by 2020. One of these targets is to increase the protection of marine and coastal areas by 10%. To meet this target, a mandate is being led by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to establish Marine Protected Area Networks. These Networks consist of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Other Effective Area-Based Conservation measures (OECMs). On March 22nd, 2018, DFO announced the Eastern Shore Islands and the Fundian Channel-Browns Bank as two potential Marine Protected Areas, also known as Areas of Interest (AOIs). These AOIs are situated in the Scotian Shelf bioregion.

The Mi’kmaw Conservation Group (MCG) was contracted to conduct a study on the Marine Protected Area Networks. The purpose of this study was to gather input on MPAs for the Scotian Shelf bioregion and the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence bioregion. In 2018, sessions were scheduled in participating communities to inform rightsholders about the process for establishing Marine Protected Area Networks and to gather insight on Marine Protected Areas, including the Areas of Interest. At the community sessions, a PowerPoint presentation was given followed by discussions and mapping exercises. These sessions gave rightsholders the opportunity to ask que ...