Quebec’s marine protected areas are being helped with a significant investment.
The province of Quebec has announced that it will invest $4.4 million for biodiversity in Quebec’s marine protected areas.
Quebec’s marine diversity is shaped by its unique geographic position and the diversity of its marine habitats, which include the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the St. Lawrence Estuary, and the North Atlantic Ocean along its coastline. Quebec’s marine waters are home to various marine mammal species, including beluga whales, minke whales, humpback whales, blue whales (the largest animals on Earth), seals, and porpoises. The St. Lawrence Estuary, in particular, is known for its population of beluga whales.
The marine waters off Quebec’s coast also support diverse fish populations, including commercially important cod, haddock, salmon, trout, mackerel, and shellfish species.
Quebec’s marine life faces several challenges due to human activities and environmental changes. These challenges impact the health of marine ecosystems, biodiversity, and the sustainability of fisheries.
The Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence experience significant environmental contrasts, whereby they feature some of Atlantic Canada’s warmest surface waters in summer and the largest quantities of sea ice in winter. Spanning over 3,000 kilometers in the northern maritime territory, these regions are particularly susceptible to the rapid impacts of climate change, which affect the entire marine ecosystem.
Climate change has notable effects on inshore birds and seabirds, particularly through the deterioration or loss of their specific habitats and disruptions in the timing of food availability relative to staging areas.
In an effort to address some of these challenges, the government of Quebec announced that it will invest $4.48 million in the St. Lawrence Action Fund. This fund is part of a plan that supports the implementation of community-led projects aimed at conserving biodiversity, ensuring sustainable use, and improving water quality. The money will help restore and enhance biodiversity in Quebec’s marine protected areas.
The St. Lawrence restoration program and investment will focus on knowledge transfer initiatives aimed at raising awareness among key stakeholders about the impacts of human activities on coastal and marine ecosystems. It aims to equip these stakeholders with the necessary tools to implement restoration projects utilizing marine plants, among other strategies to help Quebec’s marine protected areas.
The funding allocated to the St. Lawrence Action Plan comes from the $650 million Nature 2030 plan. This plan is a financial commitment made by Quebec towards biodiversity conservation and environmental sustainability. The plan is designed to support various projects and programs to protect and restore natural ecosystems, including marine environments.
The Nature 2030 Plan is Quebec’s response to the objectives set forth in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The Kunming-Montreal Framework is an international agreement designed to address global biodiversity loss and set ambitious targets for conservation and restoration efforts by participating countries.
Quebec’s marine protected areas are established and managed to achieve specific conservation and management goals, which can vary based on the location, ecological significance, and threats the marine environment faces.
As of March 2021, the network of protected areas throughout Quebec covered 271,593 square kilometers. Quebec’s marine protected areas of note are the Saguenay-St Lawrence Marine Park, the Bonaventure River Estuary Marine Reserve, and the Banc-des-Americans Marine Protected Area. The purpose of these marine protected areas is to conserve and protect marine ecosystems, habitats, species, and cultural resources within designated areas of the ocean.
Marine protected areas are crucial in marine conservation and sustainable ocean management. The Quebec government’s investment in protecting Quebec’s marine protected areas represents a significant commitment to conservation and environmental stewardship. This investment will have profound effects on Quebec’s natural landscapes and the animals that rely on these marine habitats for survival and will in turn have a positive effect on our environment.
