Addressing the Cumulative Effects of Marine Shipping Through Area-Based Management Approaches

Canada’s Oceans Protection Plan (OPP) is a comprehensive initiative launched by the Government of Canada to enhance marine safety, protect marine ecosystems, engage with coastal communities, and improve evidence-based decision-making. The OPP focuses on safeguarding Canadian coasts and waterways by implementing measures to prevent and respond to marine incidents, supporting research and innovation, and establishing stronger Indigenous partnerships to address maritime concerns and promote sustainable marine practices. Under the Oceans Protection Plan, Transport Canada’s Cumulative Effects of Marine Shipping (CEMS) initiative has been working in seven regions of Canada to assess and address the regional cumulative effects of marine shipping, in partnership with Indigenous peoples and guided by the principles of reconciliation. The goal of this chapter is to showcase how area-based management (ABM) is applied in the CEMS initiative by first providing background on the CEMS initiative from a broad perspective and then examining linkages between the initiative and ABM approaches. A case study is described from one regional CEMS assessment being conducted along a section of the Northwest Passage in southern Victoria Island, Nunavut, which resulted in the development of a voluntary measure using an ABM approach to mitigate the impacts of icebreaking activities on caribou migration and hunter safety.