Scott Islands Marine National Wildlife Area

The proposed Scott Islands Protected Marine Area, also known as the Scott Islands Marine National Wildlife Area (NWA), located off the northern tip of Vancouver Island, will be the first protected marine area established under the Canada Wildlife Act.

The establishment of the NWA will increase marine protection in Canada by 11 546 km2 and will enable effective long-term conservation of the highest concentration of breeding seabirds in the Canadian Pacific, as well as many other marine species, including species listed under the Species at Risk Act. The area sustains 90 percent of Canada's tufted puffins, 95 percent of Pacific Canada's common murres, 50 percent of the world's Cassin's auklets, and 7 percent of the global population of rhinoceros auklets.

The surrounding waters provide key feeding habitat for the birds that nest on the islands and attract annually an additional 5- to 10-million migratory birds that may travel vast distances across the Pacific to feed on the abundance of small fish and zooplankton in the area.

The Government of Canada committed to establishing the proposed Scott Islands Marine NWA, in budgets 2007 and 2013. Environment and Climate Change Canada is leading the establishment process, and the target date for publication of the proposed Scott Islands Protected Marine Area Regulations, in Part 1 of the Canada Gazette, is December 2016.

Establishment of the Scott Islands NWA, along with the implementation of conservation measures via the Regulations, would prevent activities from occurring in the marine NWA, which would threaten the vitality of the Scott Islands as important habitat for seabirds.

The prohibition against fishing for Pacific sand lance, Pacific saury, and North Pacific krill will benefit the many marine species that feed on these fish, not just the seabirds. Establishment of the marine NWA will allow for an enhanced focus on monitoring and research to meet the conservation objectives for the area, the main one being to conserve migratory seabirds.

The establishment of the Scott Islands Marine NWA will complement existing provincial protected-area designations for the five islands that make up the Scott Islands archipelago.