Despite decades of destructive logging and fishing practices, the Great Bear Sea supports a globally significant abundance and diversity of life in all shapes, colours and sizes, from microscopic creatures to Earth’s largest animals. Scientific estimates are impressive: trillions of plankton, billions of fish, three million nesting seabirds, 10,000-year-old glass sponge reefs, more than 400 fish species and 29 marine mammal species.
Only a few centuries ago, the entire biosphere was a similarly rich mix of ecosystems and biodiversity. Now the Great Bear Sea is an increasingly rare oasis.
An agreement between 17 Coastal First Nations and the British Columbia and federal governments — the Great Bear Sea Project Finance for Permanence initiative — is the realization of decades of vision, negotiation and collaboration, and will help develop a conservation economy supporting 10 million hectares of culturally and environmentally rich marine ecosystems. Plans include a 2.8-million-hectare network of marine protected areas.
Read More : https://davidsuzuki.org/story/great-bear-sea-initiative-shows-vision-of-indigenous-leadership/