(Credit: Jeffery Young)
Canada's Pacific North Coast is a marine biologists dream. From the beaches to the greatest ocean depths, from microscopic creatures to the world's biggest animals, and from the life undersea to the things we can see, this ocean region supports a richness, abundance and diversity of life that is truly spectacular.
Take a tour of the area using Google Earth.
In September 2011, scientists, local participants, fishermen, environmental groups and First Nations were shocked when the federal government rejected previously approved funding an integrated marine use plan.
This truly expansive and complex ocean region is similar in size to the Great Bear Rainforest, its spectacular land-based neighbour. The region includes the areas commonly known as the Queen Charlotte Basin, Hecate Strait, Central Coast, and northern Vancouver Island. Over half of the region's areas have been identified as ecologically and biologically significant by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
The Canadian government named PNCIMA in 2002 when, as part of its commitment under Canada's Ocean Act, it officially recognized the need for integrated management planning processes in five of Canada's most vulnerable ocean areas. These areas are called Large Ocean Management Areas, or LOMAs. The other four LOMAs in Canada include the Eastern Scotian Shelf, Placentia Bay and the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Atlantic Canada, and the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic. These areas are being prioritized to undergo a planning process that would aim to improve management, develop conservation strategies and ensure long-term ecosystem health.
It remains to be seen how the Canadian government will meet this commitment now that they have rejected independent funding for scientific analysis and community involvement.
Why is the Pacific North Coast special?
Check out this short video — an incredible underwater glimpse of this mysterious and seldom-viewed part of beautiful B.C.
The PNCIMA has a combination of complex oceanographic conditions and seafloor characteristics. With its channels, banks, deep troughs, eddies, upwellings, estuaries and depths ranging from zero to over 2,000 metres, it creates a wide range of ecological niches and in turn supports a diverse array of species.
About 45,000 square kilometres have been identified as ecologically and biologically significant areas by Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The PNCIMA covers approximately 22 per cent of the total marine jurisdiction in Pacific Canada and includes major water bodies within the region such as Queen Charlotte Sound, Hecate Strait and Dixon Entrance. About 34,504 live in PNCIMA communities. Thirty-six per cent of the residents are First Nations.
It is home to 9,000-year-old reefs made of glass. The globally unique reefs have grown to the height of a five-storey building and cover 1,000 square kilometres. Seabirds nest and raise their young in PNCIMA in globally significant numbers. Eighty per cent of the world's Cassin's auklets are found on the Scott Islands. Twenty-seven different types of whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals and sea lions can be found in PNCIMA. Almost every square kilometre of PNCIMA is important to the commercial fishing fleet in B.C. Fifty-five per cent of B.C.'s finfish aquaculture sites are located within PNCIMA.
