What are Canada's National Marine Conservation Areas?

National Marine Conservation Areas (NMCAs) are federally protected marine areas managed by Parks Canada to protect and conserve representative examples of Canada's marine environments. NMCAs are governed by the Canada National Marine Conservation Areas Act of 2002. As of 2025, Canada has five established NMCAs: Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park (the only federal-provincial co-managed park), Fathom Five National Marine Park, Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area, Tallurutiup Imanga (Lancaster Sound) National Marine Conservation Area, and Gwaii Haanas National Marine Conservation Area Reserve.

Tallurutiup Imanga, designated on August 1, 2019, is the largest NMCA in Canada and the largest marine protected area in Canada at 108,000 square kilometres. The area covers Lancaster Sound and adjoining waters in the eastern Arctic between Devon Island and Bylot/Baffin Islands. The designation was negotiated with the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, the Government of Nunavut, and the federal government, and includes Inuit-led co-management. The area is critical habitat for narwhal, beluga, bowhead, polar bear, ringed seal, walrus, and seabirds. The designation closed the area to oil and gas exploration permanently.

The Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park, established jointly by Canada and Quebec in 1998 (the only federal-provincial marine park), protects 1,245 square kilometres of the Saguenay Fjord and the lower St. Lawrence Estuary. The park is the most important Canadian habitat for the endangered St. Lawrence Estuary beluga whale (about 880 individuals as of 2024) and supports humpback, fin, blue, and minke whales seasonally. Tadoussac at the mouth of the Saguenay is the principal whale-watching base.

Fathom Five National Marine Park (1987) protects 112 square kilometres of Lake Huron at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario. The park is famous for its 22 shipwrecks and the freshwater scuba diving on the wrecks. Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area (formally established October 25, 2007) protects 10,880 square kilometres of the northern shore of Lake Superior. The area is the largest freshwater protected area in the world. Gwaii Haanas National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, designated 2010, protects 3,500 square kilometres of marine waters around Haida Gwaii under unique cooperative management with the Council of the Haida Nation. Federal commitments include protecting 30 per cent of Canada's marine waters by 2030 (under the federal Marine Protected Areas Strategy and the Pathway to Canada Target 1 announced 2019), with several additional NMCA candidates under negotiation including the Magdalen Islands NMCA proposal in Quebec.