Towards a Marine Cadastre
Managing competing uses within Canada's ocean environment - a marine cadastre
The Surveyor General collaborates with other departments to advance integrated management over Canada's Offshore Area. The Branch provides advice on offshore boundaries such as required for defining the extent of Marine Protected Areas, Marine Conservation Areas, Oil and Gas rights, mineral rights, fishing zones, sites for renewable energy projects, harbours and ports.
Pursuant to the Canada Lands Surveys Act, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) is responsible for the survey system that supports all property and land management regimes in Canada's offshore area. On land, cadastral systems are an essential component of the governance structure. They provide the foundation for securing interests in land, are essential to orderly development, and provide security to enable capital investment. The land cadastre and the property rights infrastructure – the system of federal and provincial legal surveys, title registries, databases, laws and institutions – have been a pillar of Canada's economic development.
With the growing interest in ocean resources and rising public concern about the ocean environment, there is growing recognition around the world that states need modern land management systems to enable good governance over states' offshore areas. A Marine Cadastre could be a core element to enable such good governance.
Technology advancements provide an opportunity to build on the foundation established for terrestrial systems and widen its application by establishing an integrated multi-purpose cadastral infrastructure framework as the foundation for integrated management in the offshore. The increasing human activities in the ocean space (protection areas, navigation, pipelines and cables, conservation areas, oil and gas, aquaculture, fishing, renewable energy projects, mining, etc) requires an integrated approach to balance competing demands. The common unifying element to these various management regimes is the geospatial component-key to a Marine Cadastre.