The BCMCA Project Team guided and implemented the methods, informed by ecological and human use experts who provided overarching direction and advice about the collation, use and analyses of data. All DAPT price data layers were stored, mapped and documented using ArcGIS (versions 9.0–10). Key steps of the Marxan analyses, after data were collated, were to create planning units, develop targets, carry out calibration,

run analyses, and draft reports explaining results. Differing approaches were used to identify ecological and human use data to incorporate in the BCMCA project. Ecological features and datasets recommended by experts via workshops were collated and prepared for use in Marxan. Individual workshops were held for seabirds, marine plants, marine learn more mammals, marine and anadromous fish, and marine invertebrates. Approaches used,

and other details of the workshops, are described in Ban et al. [18]. A list of features and datasets to represent the physical marine environment was first proposed by the BCMCA Project Team based on a review of similar projects, then revised following expert review. Once all available datasets for a given feature were obtained, data were collated using GIS and prepared following advice given at the workshops or given by data providers. Checkplots of mapped features and supporting metadata, which documented collation and preparation methods, were reviewed by workshop participants and/or data providers in a comprehensive review process. Review questionnaires asked reviewers to (1) confirm existing target ranges or recommend new values, (2) comment on data collation and preparation methods, (3) comment on the appropriateness of older data, (4) recommend dates of expiry for use of these data in a marine planning context, and (5) make the Rebamipide project aware of additional data sources. Human use datasets were first sourced by BCMCA Project Team members within each of their organisations (e.g., federally held fisheries data, provincially held recreation data). Example maps were drafted and a

review of these data was sought through a two-pronged strategy of group-by-group engagement and the formation of a human use data working group to advise on the collation, mapping and analysis of human use data. Six sectors or categories of human use were identified (i.e., commercial fisheries, recreational fisheries, ocean energy, shipping and transportation, tenures, and recreation and tourism), and a nomination process was held for each sector to self-identify two representatives to participate in the working group. The working group was lead by a neutral facilitator and was designed to be broadly representative of user groups, but participants were not expected to represent a constituency in any formal capacity.