In early February, 15 First Nations and the Canadian government announced a new plan for a network of marine protected areas on Canada’s west coast. The Marine Protected Areas Network Action Plan for the Northern Shelf Bioregion provides a strategy to create protected areas that will safeguard more than two hundred species of fish, marine birds, marine mammals, and invertebrates in the region. It will also help preserve a coastline that stretches from Vancouver Island to the Canada-Alaska border.

“This is a significant achievement in Canada’s commitments,” said Joyce Murray, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard. “Only by working together at all levels can we achieve Canada’s marine conservation targets.”

The Canadian government has committed to protecting 30 percent of its oceans by the end of the decade; one part of the international goal known as 30X30 to protect biodiversity and reverse climate change by protecting 30 percent of the planet by 2030. But a new report says to meet this goal, Canada has to make more efforts to include First Nations in its national marine conservation plans.

Read the full article about protecting marine areas by Joseph Lee at Grist.