Not only are many whales protected from hunting, governments in Canada and all over the world are working together along with industries and environmental groups to protect whales and make oceans and rivers cleaner, safer places for them to live.
What Is A Marine Protected Area?
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are specific regions of the ocean that are given special legal protection. They are not set up just to protect whales. MPAs are intended to conserve all the wildlife and habitat within their boundaries. Many of these areas protect whales that live there or migrate through them.
Canada has the longest coastline in the world, 243,000 kilometres!
A specific set of rules is made for each MPA. Rules affect activities such as the removal of living and non-living resources (examples: fish and oil), shipping traffic, etc. MPAs are found all over the world. Australia and New Zealand have the most MPAs, even though Canada has the longest coastline in the world243,000 kilometres!
The goal in Canada is to set up a network of MPAs that will protect all the different kinds of marine habitats found around Canada.
To find out more about Marine Protected Areas and keep up-to-date on the newest developments concerning MPAs in Canada check out the Parks Canada web site.