Readers of REVITALIZATION have seen a fair amount of coverage about Canada’s visionary Coastal Restoration Fund (CRF) in these pages. On June 8, 2019, the third installation of CRF project funding was announced.
Jonathan Wilkinson, the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard committed over $13.6 million to an additional 24 Coastal Restoration Fund projects to restore habitat along Canadian coasts.
Canada has the world’s longest coastline, and is surrounded by three oceans. Their marine ecosystems directly support over 325,000 Canadian jobs. However, the Government of Canada recognizes that its waters are facing urgent threats, from climate change, to declining biodiversity. These real threats directly impact the health of their oceans, and therefore, the health of the Canadian environment and economy.
The first and second phases of CRF investments funded 40 projects. This has meant community lead projects across the country moving forward to recover wild salmon habitats effected by climate change, mitigate the impacts of infrastructure development on delicate coastal ecosystems, and to stabilize river banks, preventing trees and debris from falling into the water and causing serious damage. These projects are part of our historic $1.5 billion Oceans Protection Plan (OPP).
Minister Wilkinson also announced further action under the OPP’s Coastal Environmental Baseline Program to track the impacts of port-related activities and the health of ecosystems on the west coast. They are investing more than $5 million in nine new data collection projects in the Port of Vancouver and Port of Prince Rupert areas of British Columbia. The vital evidence collected on the impacts of shipping traffic and climate change will inform what further action they will take to make our waters cleaner, safer and healthier.
The Coastal Environmental Baseline Program, part of the $1.5 billion Oceans Protection Plan, will help collect wide-ranging scientific data in six marine ecosystems with high vessel traffic and coastline development: the Port of Vancouver, BC; the Port of Prince Rupert, BC; the Lower St. Lawrence Estuary, QC; the Port of Saint John, NB; Placentia Bay, NL; and Iqaluit, NU.
Projects are funded as part of the $50.8 million Coastal Environmental Baseline Program. The projects involve collaboration between scientists, Indigenous communities and coastal organizations to collect baseline data on broad range of marine life in the study areas.
The OPP is the most significant investment in Canadian history to protect the country’s waters and coasts while spurring economic growth and job creation in the communities that rely on the health of these waterways.
Through this historic investment, and by strengthening our laws with the modernization of the Oceans Act, Canada Petroleum Resources Act and proposed changes to the Fisheries Act, Canada is delivering on its promise to restore protection to its oceans while supporting economic growth and jobs in coastal communities. These concrete measures are protecting species at risk like the Southern Resident killer whale and North Atlantic right whale as well as helping restore wild fish stocks.
“Our government has a responsibility to Canadians, the world, and future generations to steward our environment and our resources with care. That is why we are taking real action to better protect our oceans and the livelihood of coastal communities. These new investments announced today will be critically important to our understanding of marine ecosystems and essential to knowing how to best recover marine species and their habitats moving forward,” said Wilkinson.
The nine organizations receiving funding for projects are: Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Tsawwassen First Nation, Lax Kw’alaams Fisheries Enterprise, Metlakatla Stewardship Society, Gitxaala Nation, Kitselas Band Council, Kitsumkalum First Nation, Prince Rupert Port Authority, and Ocean Wise Conservation Association.
2019 photo of Port of Vancouver, BC by Storm Cunningham.