Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) play an important role in marine conservation. While the MPA is a very useful tool for marine management and preserving biodiversity, the current number of MPAs in British Columbia (BC) is concerningly low. This research proposes a new MPA on the coast of BC by deploying a wide range of spatial analysis tools. It compares a new MPA, which is created by overlapping layers of vegetation, marine mammals and biologically significant areas, with regions where sea surface temperature (SST) and bathymetry (i.e. sea depth) are optimal for marine species, and looks at whether both areas overlap. Our findings show that the new proposed MPA did overlap with these regions, meaning that the new MPA also has favourable abiotic conditions. Data and analysis limitations are also discussed.
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