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2021-02-24
East Coast Environmental Law, WWF-Canada, and West Coast Environmental Law Publish New Shipping in MPAs Toolkit
February 24, 2021 Marine protected areas ("MPAs") are one of the mechanisms that are used to protect important marine biodiverstiy, life, and habitats. Managing the risks and impacts of human activity in MPAs, including from fishing, shipping, and oil and gas activities, is crucial to ensuring their sucess and the sustainability of ocean biodiversity. Federally, MPAs often do not adequately consider or mitigate the impacts from shipping. These impacts can include operational and other discharges like sewage, grey water, and ballast water, as well as noise, air emissions, and ship strikes. As a result, there is a need for governments, industry, and environmental organizations and practitioners to better understand the complex legal and regulatory environment that already exists for shipping and navigation and for MPAs. In an effort to begin addressing this critical gap in the management of MPAs in Canada, East Coast Environmental Law collaborated with WWF-Canada and West Coast Environmental Law to develop the Shipping in MPAs Toolkit. The toolkit includes a series of peer-reviewed literature synthesis reports about the impacts of shipping on marine birds, benthic and sea ice marine habitats, and cetaceans (whales), the available laws and regulations that can be used to reduce, mitigate, or eliminate those…
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