Overview
- Gitxaała Nation and Fisheries and Oceans Canada established the 435.83 km² Banks Marine Refuge near Banks Island under a co-governance framework.
- The Banks refuge now prohibits all commercial and recreational prawn and crab trap fisheries, adding to existing rockfish conservation closures.
- Two Haida Gwaii refuges, G̱aw K̲áahlii and X̲aana K̲aahlii, were formally recognized, each at nearly 30 km², co-managed by the Council of the Haida Nation and DFO.
- The new protections safeguard corals, sponges, kelp forests and eelgrass, as well as habitat for salmon, seabirds, herring, harbour seals and rockfish.
- All three sites are part of the Great Bear Sea Project Finance for Permanence and align with the Northern Shelf MPA network action plan.