Canada's St. Anns Bank, New Marine Reserve, Open to Non-Trawl Fishing, Including Crab and Lobster
SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton June 9, 2017
On World Oceans Day yesterday, Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced that St. Anns Bank, east of Cape Breton, is officially Canada's latest marine protected area.
St. Anns Bank Marine Protected Area is 4,364 square kilometres in size and is located off the eastern coast of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The area is important for conservation, containing leatherback sea turtles, deep-sea corals, sponges and sea pens, and recovering populations of Atlantic cod and Atlantic wolffish. Over 100 species have been identified in this area and it comprises an important migratory corridor for wildlife travelling to and from the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Through regulations published in Canada Gazette, the entire area will be off-limits to oil and gas exploration activities and bottom trawling. Three fishing zones, covering approximately one quarter of the marine protected area have been established for lower impact fisheries, predominately for snow crab, lobster, halibut, and whelk.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada first announced St. Anns Bank as an “Area of Interest” for a marine protected area in 2011...
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