Marine Spatial Planning in Canadian Arctic Shipping Governance: Exploring Its Application in the Northern Low-impact Shipping Corridors Initiative

Abstract

Abstract This article examines different integrated management frameworks and area-based measures in Canada’s integrated ocean management regime, including their definitions, features and practices. It explicitly analyzes ma-rine spatial planning (MSP) and its practice in Canada’s Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic coasts. Case studies, including the Eastern Scotian Shelf Integrated Management (ESSIM) initiative, Pacific North Coast Integrated Manage-ment Area (PNCIMA) initiative, and Marine Plan Partnership (MaPP), show that MSP has brought additional value to comprehensive ocean planning and facilitated integrated shipping governance. Arctic marine traffic gov-ernance requires an integrated and holistic framework to address the inti-mate relationship and complex interaction between humans and the envi-ronment. The potential application of MSP in developing and governing the Northern Low Impact Shipping Corridors initiative is examined. MSP is con-sidered as a framework or an approach to inform better decision-making for the Corridors initiative from five perspectives: 1) improving interdepart-mental and cross-jurisdictional collaboration; 2) enhancing Inuit engage-ment; 3) encouraging knowledge co-production; 4) supporting data collec-tion and spatial analysis; and 5) facilitating implementation and adaptation of the Corridor initiative.