Government of Canada invests in oil spill research at the Huntsman Marine Science Centre

St. Andrews, New Brunswick – Keeping our oceans clean, safe and healthy for current and future generations is a top priority for the Government of Canada. That is why we are making significant investments, under the Oceans Protection Plan, to help protect our coasts and prevent spills from happening.

 

The Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, along with the Member of Parliament for New Brunswick Southwest, Karen Ludwig, announced today that the Government of Canada is investing $2.4 million in scientific research and supporting approximately 25 jobs at the Huntsman Marine Science Centre.

 

With this investment, the Centre will study how spill response measures, such as the use of dispersant chemicals, affect fish and other aquatic species of interest. The goal of the project is to ensure the use of effective response measures, without harming ocean life in the event of a spill. This project will add to the growing body of scientific knowledge about Canada’s spill response, and will ensure that first responders have the best available information while making decisions.

 

Funding for this project is from the Multi-Partner Research Initiative. This fund supports a variety of research projects on alternative response measures for oil spills. It is aimed at building partnerships among the leading researchers across Canada and around the world. These collaborative efforts will improve our knowledge of how oil spills behave, how best to contain them and clean them up, and how to minimize their environmental impacts.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.