{"id":691996,"date":"2026-05-25T05:10:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T05:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/691996\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T05:10:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T05:10:27","slug":"huge-national-marine-conservation-area-established-off-b-c-s-central-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/691996\/","title":{"rendered":"Huge national marine conservation area established off B.C.\u2019s Central Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

A historic agreement was announced on Friday afternoon between six First Nations, the B.C. government and the federal government.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Leaders from Wuikinuxv, Nuxalk, Kitasoo Xai\u2019xais, Heiltsuk, Gitxaa\u0142a and Gitga\u2019at Nations, Canada and British Columbia signed an agreement to establish a national marine conservation area reserve off the Central Coast.<\/p>\n

The area, called Mia-yaltwa Ha\u2019lidzogm hoon, means \u201cRealm of the Salmon, Home of the Salmon\u201d in a hybrid composite name drawn from the Indigenous languages of the partner Nations.<\/p>\n

It covers 6,700 kilometres off the coast of Central B.C.<\/p>\n

The conservation area becomes the sixth of its kind in Canada and the second in B.C. after the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, which covers around 1,500 sq. km of land.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something Coast First Nations have been working on for more than a decade,\u201d Randene Neill, B.C.\u2019s Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, said.<\/p>\n

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The area is home to commercial activity ranging from fisheries to forestry and tourism and that will continue more sustainably, reinforcing a message delivered by the prime minister in Vancouver this week to talk about his plans for the economy.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe importance of building in the right way, that means in partnership with First Nations, it means building with an emphasis on sustainability as well as prosperity,\u201d Prime Minister Mark Carney said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tB.C. premier and First Nations leaders sign declaration to protect coastline\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

However, the new national marine conservation reserve also covers an area already covered by a federal oil tanker ban, a moratorium that the B.C. government and the same coastal First Nations are adamant be left in place.<\/p>\n

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Critics also say this is indicative of how the Carney government continues to deliver mixed messages on energy development.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll make a speech in Ottawa, they\u2019ll talk about how great it will be to build a pipeline to the west coast, then they\u2019ll come to B.C. and say the opposite,\u201d Ellis Ross, MP for Skeena\u2014Bulkley Valley, said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSo what is it, are you going to build a pipeline or not?\u201d<\/p>\n

But those who depend on a healthy ocean say it is also a vital natural resource and economic lifeline.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe establishment of Mia-yaltwa Ha\u2019lidzogm hoon uplifts the generational work of the Nations who have been stewarding the marine environment of the Central Coast for millennia,\u201d a joint press release stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cEstablishing this protected area will help marine ecosystems, biodiversity, and culturally important values to flourish. It will also support Indigenous and coastal communities, as well as the many marine sectors, including fisheries, that depend on a healthy ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 With files from Global News\u2019 Ben O\u2019Hara-Byrne<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A historic agreement was announced on Friday afternoon between six First Nations, the B.C. government and the federal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[138362,49,48,295,252883,66],"class_list":["post-691996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-bc-coast","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-marine-protection-area","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}