Government of Canada and Province of British Columbia support 14 fish and seafood innovation projects

VANCOUVER, BC, Today's environmental challenges mean that innovation and science are critical elements in helping to rebuild a healthy ocean ecosystem. Maintaining a sustainable and economically strong fish and seafood sector is a priority for both the Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia.

Today, the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Honourable Joyce Murray, and the BC Minister for Land, Water, and Resource Stewardship, and Minister responsible for Fisheries, the Honourable Josie Osborne, announced $9.9 million in funding for 14 projects under the British Columbia Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund (BCSRIF).

Today's investment supports a range of projects that aim to improve the performance and sustainability of the province's fisheries sector through collaborative trials of selective fishing methods; improved technology to ensure accurate recreational fishing catch data; activities to increase the economic viability of kelp culture, while improving marine habitat for salmon; and efforts to assess and eradicate aquatic invasive species.

Some of the projects announced today include:

• Tsawwassen First Nation is designing and operating a tidal waters' salmon trap close to their traditional fishing site, near the mouth of the Fraser River. Project objectives include identifying and assessing a suitable trap site, building, operating, and maintaining the trap, and monitoring the sustainability of this gear type via a selective fishing study.
• The Coastal Restoration Society is trapping, controlling and monitoring European green crab in an attempt to mitigate and remediate the damage that these aquatic invasive species pose to shared environmental, economic and cultural resources in the Pacific Region.
• The A-Tlegay Fisheries Society is constructing four kelp permaculture sites located within Johnstone Strait/Northern Strait of Georgia to improve the quality of important marine habitat for salmon and to determine the commercial potential for kelp permaculture in the region.