Coastal First Nations - Great Bear Initiative

This alliance of the Wuikinuxv, Heiltsuk, Kitasoo/Xaixais, Nuxalk, Gitga’at, Metlakatla, Old Massett, Skidegate, and Council of the Haida Nation “promotes community self-sufficiency and sustainable economic development on BC’s North and Central Coast and Haida Gwaii. Our communities are working together to build a strong, conservation-based economy that recognizes our Title and Rights , and protects our culture and ecosystems.” Read More about the work that CFN supports.

Central Coast Indigenous Resource Alliance

The Central Coast Indigenous Resource Alliance (CCIRA) is an alliance between the four Central Coast Nations: Kitasoo/Xai’Xais, Heiltsuk, Nuxalk, and Wuikinuxv Nations. Their numerous joint initiatives and programs include harmonized marine planning and implementation, research on rockfish populations, eulachon monitoring, and policy development to address the many marine resource issues affecting their territories. Watch Keepers of the Coast to learn more about CCIRA’s work.

Coastal Guardian Watchmen program

Initiated in 2005, this regional program is designed to uphold and enforce traditional and contemporary Indigenous laws passed down over countless generations, and to work together to monitor, protect and restore the cultural and natural resources of the coastal territories in the Great Bear and Haida Gwaii. Individual Nations monitor and steward their own territories and resources, and coordinate with other CFN Nations through annual learning exchanges, a standard training program and a collective monitoring system .

Read more about Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas.

What Are MPAs?

Marine Protected Areas in the North and Central Coast and Haida Gwaii

Hecate Strait / Queen Charlotte Sound Glass Sponge Reefs MPA

Designated in 2017, the Hecate Strait / Queen Charlotte Sound Glass Sponge Reefs MPA protects four 9,000 year-old glass sponge reefs, the first living glass sponge reefs found in the world. At the time of their discovery in 1987, approximately half of the reef area had been unknowingly destroyed by fisheries that drag heavy gear along the bottom. Recognizing the importance of the reefs as fish habitat, the bottom trawling fishery voluntarily closed access to the reefs in 2001, but other potentially damaging fisheries continued. The 2,410 square-kilometer MPA now prohibits all bottom contact fisheries and other activities that could damage the reefs and the many species that live within them, and allows some fisheries and other activities in the waters above them. The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) played a major role in the establishment of this MPA. Learn more.

Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, and Haida Heritage Site

Often referred to simply as Gwaii Haanas, is an archipelago of 138 islands on the southern end of Haida Gwaii. Protection of the land and water in the reserve has been in the works since the mid-1980s. Since 1993, the Council of the Haida Nation and the Federal Government have co-managed the land area of the park. The Gwaii Haanas National Marine Conservation Area Reserve was established in 2010, bringing Gwaii Haanas’ total area to nearly 5,000 square kilometers. The new management plan for the marine area will set aside nearly 50% of the reserve’s waters from commercial fishing, giving protection for globally-important seabird breeding habitat, at-risk species of whales, and many fish species.

Rockfish Conservation Areas

First Nations in the Great Bear and Haida Gwaii depend on access to rockfish and lingcod for their diets and for cultural sustenance. In fact, access to traditional food sources for Food, Social, and Ceremonial purposes is a constitutional right for Indigenous people. Rockfish are long-lived (some can live to 120 years) that are vulnerable to overfishing because they are slow to begin breeding, and the larger, older females in the population (the prize sport fish) are actually the ones that produce more and stronger young. First Nations fishers on the Central Coast observed that rockfish have been getting harder and harder to find over the past 50 years, as pressure from commercial and recreational fishing has increased. Fisheries and Oceans Canada manages these fisheries but has not adequately monitored the impact of recreational or commercial fisheries on central coast rockfish. In 2013, The Central Coast Indigenous Resource Alliance launched a study of nearly 300 fishing sites. The study showed that indeed, large and old Quillback and Yelloweye rockfish were rare across the study area, but the further you travel from fishing lodges and other ports, the more there are. Yelloweye rockfish (a.k.a. Red snapper) are doing better in Rockfish Conservation Areas (RCAs), where only First Nations food, social, and ceremonial fisheries for rockfish are allowed. Other species may not feel the same benefits from RCAs because their habitat may not be well-represented within them.

Marine Planning

Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area

The Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area Plan (PNCIMA plan) was the first guiding document to outline integrated, ecosystem-based, adaptive management of marine activities and resources throughout the region. Two of the key priorities identified in the plan are the creation of governance arrangements to enable plan implementation, and MPA network planning.

Marine Plan Partnership for the North Pacific Coast

The Marine Plan Partnership for the North Pacific Coast (MaPP) was intended to fulfill both these priorities, but when the process began in 2011 the Federal Government refused to engage. The Province of B.C. and 16 First Nations forged ahead without Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and developed a groundbreaking foundation for collaborative governance and planning for MPAs. MaPP enables progress on marine management in a wide variety of areas, including developing a system of marine zoning, funding for Coastal Guardian Watchmen programs, and studies on shellfish aquaculture potential and climate change impacts. The establishment of a collaborative governance structure that includes Indigenous governments as equal partners may be globally unique.

Northern Shelf Bioregion MPA network

In 2016, the Government of Canada began to move forward with the 2005 Federal Marine Protected Areas Strategy with planning for major MPA networks in the Pacific, Scotian Shelf, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, honouring its long-standing international commitments to protect biodiversity. The Northern Shelf Bioregion MPA (NSB MPA) network is currently in the works for the Great Bear Rainforest and Haida Gwaii. Planning for the NSB MPA network is currently being undertaken by the Federal Government, many First Nations, and the Province of B.C. The process is driven by these six goals:

1. To protect and maintain marine biodiversity, ecological representation and special natural features.
2. To contribute to the conservation and protection of fishery resources and their habitats.
3. To maintain and facilitate opportunities for tourism and recreation.
4. To contribute to social, community and economic certainty and stability.
5. To conserve and protect traditional use, cultural heritage and archaeological resources.
6. To provide opportunities for scientific research and awareness

Conservation Allies

Several environmental organizations have been involved in marine planning and conservation work in the Great Bear for many years: Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, West Coast Environmental Law, David Suzuki Foundation, World Wildlife Foundation - Canada, Living Oceans Society, SeaLegacy, Dogwood Initiative, Ecotrust