Stakeholder & Community Engagement

PNCIMA's stakeholders are as diverse as its waters, and each of them brings unique experience and knowledge that are vital to the success of the initiative.

First Nations people have generations of traditional knowledge about PNCIMA, a holistic approach to environmental management that echoes the ecosystem approach, an interest and involvement in ocean related economic development opportunities and a legal right to be engaged in decisions that may affect their Aboriginal and treaty rights.¹

Coastal communities in PNCIMA, all with rich marine heritages, will play an essential role in helping to understand the management area and issues, ensuring that the planning process and associated actions are relevant to the area, and providing "on the ground" expertise and capacity for plan implementation, monitoring and compliance promotion.²

The PNCIMA region supports a significant portion of BC's commercial and recreational fishing industries. Fifty-five per cent of BC's finfish aquaculture sites and 2.5% of BC's shellfish sites are located within the region.³

Marine transportation is a central feature of the PNCIMA region. Patterns of marine transportation include local, community-oriented traffic, large-scale commercial and industrial traffic and transient traffic. Marine transportation facilities such as ports, docks and harbours also figure into the marine transportation industry.⁴

PNCIMA is world-renowned for many marine recreation and tourism activities, including ocean kayaking, recreational boating, diving, marine based camping and visits, private resource harvesting, wildlife viewing, sport fishing and marine cruising by large ships, pocket cruises and smaller vessels.⁵

Energy industries , including renewable ocean energy such as wind farms and tidal technology, as well as non-renewable energy sources and pipeline development, are emerging and significant features of BC's ocean economy.⁶

Non-governmental organizations concerned with preserving the ecological, scenic and cultural values of PNCIMA also need to be engaged from the outset in the Integrated Management planning process.⁷

Sound and effective management decisions cannot be made without science and ecosystem understanding. Key to this part of the process are academic and government researchers with expertise in ocean science, socio-economic and policy matters.⁸

^{1(Policy and Operational Framework for Integrated Management of Estuarine, Coastal and Marine Environments in Canada, 2002)
2(Policy and Operational Framework for Integrated Management of Estuarine, Coastal and Marine Environments in Canada, 2002)
3(J.G.Bones Consulting, Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area, Issues Challenges & Opportunities: A Discussion Paper, June 2009)
4(J.G.Bones Consulting, Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area, Issues Challenges & Opportunities: A Discussion Paper, June 2009)
5(J.G.Bones Consulting, Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area, Issues Challenges & Opportunities: A Discussion Paper, June 2009)
6(J.G.Bones Consulting, Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area, Issues Challenges & Opportunities: A Discussion Paper, June 2009)
7(Policy and Operational Framework for Integrated Management of Estuarine, Coastal and Marine Environments in Canada, 2002)
8}(Policy and Operational Framework for Integrated Management of Estuarine, Coastal and Marine Environments in Canada, 2002)