Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s draft National Framework for Canada’s Network of Marine Protected Areas provides strategic direction for MPA design that will be composed of a number of bioregional networks.

Daniel Pauly and Villy Christensen, of UBC’s Fisheries Centre, are leading the the project with 30 international marine scientists. The team will study the future of the oceans and monitor the impact of human activities on seafood resources with 3-d gaming technology.

Contract announcements have been posted for a Planning Office Administrator and a Science Coordinator for the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA) Initiative. Apply by January 14, 2011.

Job openings with The Gulf of Maine Research Institute and The North Coast – Skeena First Nations Stewardship Society!

SAMPAA 7 – The Evolution of Protected Areas: Renewing our Passion and Purpose at the Banff Centre, Banff National Park, 17-22 April 2011

GeoCENS (Geospatial Cyberinfrastructure for Environmental Sensing) is having a Fall Workshop and the Department of Natural Resources is hiring a Research Scientist in Victoria.

The Pacific Salmon Commission revised its estimates, predicting 25 million sockeye are bound for the Fraser River this summer. That is more than double the early summer forecast, making it the best run since 1913.

US President Obama has established the country’s first comprehensive national policy for the stewardship of the oceans, coasts and Great Lakes. This national policy will set the United States on a new path toward comprehensively planning for the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean.

Canada has an enormous task of managing three distinct oceans (Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific) and the longest coastline in the world. On 22-23 of June, at the request of Environment Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, PacMARA convened an expert workshop for planners and practitioners to explore good practices when making decisions about how we use, manage, and conserve Canada’s marine resources.

PacMARA is gearing up to run courses in July on the widely recognized software, Marxan, a site-selection tool that has been used extensively in the design of marine and terrestrial reserves and management areas worldwide. With Marxan, planners can identify an efficient system of sites that include a suite of ecological and/or socio-economic targets at a minimal cost. For anyone working in integrated coastal or ocean management and planning, this free software (together with the spatial data you have access to) will greatly facilitate smart decision making that takes into account a broad range considerations and tradeoffs.