Gail Shea announces $400K in funding for Nova Scotia salmon projects
$101,000 to adopt a stream and $300,000 for fishway upgrades announced at the BIO
Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea announced $400,000 in funding for projects to preserve Atlantic salmon in Nova Scotia.
The projects — $101,000 to adopt a stream and $300,000 for fishway upgrades — were announced at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography on Monday.
Shea is in Nova Scotia to convene the first meeting of a ministerial advisory panel which is looking at ways to conserve salmon.
"To have a look at what we're currently doing and how we might change things to help conservation of this salmon stock," she said.
The panel will review salmon science, management and habitat restoration. Salmon numbers have been declining since the 1980s.
Gerald Chaput, a scientist with Fisheries and Oceans, said it's not just a Canadian problem.
"We see a common pattern with European Atlantic salmon, following almost the same cycle or decline that we see in North America. That points to a bigger issue happening in the ocean," he said. "The big driver seems to be the ocean environment."