Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Challenges and opportunities for marine spatial planning in the Salish Sea: learning from other jurisdictions

The Salish Sea is a tremendously dynamic, diverse, and ecologically significant inland sea. It has supported indigenous communities for millennia and is now one of the most heavily used coastlines in the world. Increasing industrial use has resulted in declining biodiversity and ecosystem health. As we continue to see increases in human activities and escalating impacts from climate change on marine ecosystems, and associated declines in marine biodiversity and ecosystem health, Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) is becoming an increasingly important tool to ensure sustainable use of our coastal and marine resources, for generations to come. However, MSP is a resource and time intensive activity; it requires the meaningful engagement and support of a diversity of stakeholders, the collation of large amounts of detailed ecological and human use data to conduct complex spatial analyses, and the consideration of often complicated and overlapping jurisdictions. At the same time, there is no set formula or recipe for a successful MSP process and plans will need to reflect and address the unique political, economic, social and biological context for each area. MSP has been undertaken for Puget Sound and for the Great Bear Sea in northern British Columbia, marine protected area (MPA) network planning is now also underway in the Great Bear Sea. However, Canadian waters within the Salish Sea remain largely unprotected and a complicated patchwork of jurisdictions and management measures. Here, we draw on these experiences and international best practices to highlight some of the opportunities and challenges, and make recommendations, for widespread MSP within the Canadian portion of the Salish Sea, including a network of marine protected areas.