The federal government announced Thursdya in Maple Ridge a $55 million investment to support the recovery of aquatic species at risk.
Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard Jonathan Wilkinson made the announcement at the Bell Irving Hatchery in front of floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the natural beauty of Kanaka Creek Regional Park.
The announcement formally launched the Canada Nature Fund for Aquatic Species at Risk and the $55 million investment will take place over five years.
The fund will focus on seven “priority” freshwater places and two “priority” marine threats across the country.
Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge MP Dan Ruimy said that it’s too early to tell what communities will be receiving funding, but among priorities are the Fraser and Columbia watersheds.
“It will depend on who is applying, what the project is that they are looking to support. I think when we are talking about species at risk, there is more than enough out there that we can focus on. So it will depend on how many people actually apply for funding,” he said.
Wilkinson explained that the wilderness that he fell in love with as a child growing up in Saskatchewan “was certainly an ecosystem that was very much imbalanced.
“However, it’s very clear in many parts of Canada, as the result of climate change and the impacts of human activity on the environment, our ecosystems are under significant threat and biodiversity is in decline,” said the minister, citing a recent report by the World Wildlife Fund that said the world has lost 60 per cent of its biodiversity in just the last three or four decades.
Priority areas for the new fund: Fraser and Columbia Watersheds in B.C.; Rocky Mountains’ Eastern Slopes in Alberta; Southern Prairies in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba; the Lower Great Lakes Watershed in Ontario; the St. Lawrence Lowlands in Quebec; Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence Rivers in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and P.E.I; and the Bay of Fundy and Southern Uplands Watersheds of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
The two priority marine threats are identified as fishing interactions, such as entanglements and bycatch of aquatic species at risk, and physical and acoustic disturbance, including ship strikes and marine noise.
