July 23, 2021 — Canada’s Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan announced a new system that will allow harvesters to easily report their lost fishing gear online.
The Fishing Gear Reporting System will now allow commercial harvesters to quickly put a description of lost gear, the cause of loss and its location from any online device.
June 9, 2021 — Canada launched a C$647.1 million ($535.10 million) strategy on Tuesday to restore Pacific wild salmon stocks that are on the brink of collapse due to climate change, habitat degradation and harvesting pressures.
The investment, first announced in the federal budget in April, will be the largest ever government contribution to efforts to save the species, which has huge cultural and ecological significance on the west coast.
“Many Pacific wild salmon are on the verge of collapse, and we need to take bold, ambitious action now if we are to reverse the trend and give them a fighting chance at survival,” Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan said in a statement.
The government’s Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative will focus on stronger science and habitat restoration, stabilizing and growing the salmon populations, modernizing fisheries, and deeper coordination between stakeholders including indigenous people and the fisheries industry.
December 17, 2020 — The Government of Canada announced on Tuesday $349,948 in funding will be provided to the University of Guelph for a “two-year research project to evaluate how Coho salmon, in the early stages of life, are impacted when exposed to diluted bitumen (dilbit) – a crude oil found in natural oil sands deposits that is mixed with a lighter diluent.”
The Honourable Bernadette Jordan, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard announced the funding and explained that the research builds on previous University of Guelph projects looking at impacts dilbit exposure has on salmon.
December 14, 2020 — Over the past two weeks, the Canadian government has made multiple funding and administrative commitments to bolstering the country’s blue economy – both in terms of growing ocean and inshore fisheries and in boosting salmon survivability.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and 13 other heads of state or government announced the endorsement of the “Transformations for a Sustainable Ocean Economy: a Vision for Protection, Production, and Proseprity.” The new document is a product of the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, a multi-nation panel committed to sustainably manage all of the ocean under the countries’ respective national jurisdictions by 2025.
August 26, 2020 — The application period for the Fish Harvester Benefit and Grant Program, which aims to provide self-employed fish harvesters with financial support, officially opened on August 24.
The application period will run through September 21, 2020 and interested parties can visit the DFO website for more information.
June 19, 2020 — Canada’s Seafood Stabilization Fund, a $62.5 million federal disaster fund for Canada’s fishery and seafood sector that passed Parliment last April will be open for applications on Monday, June 22, 2020. The funds are intended for Canadian processors and aquaculture operations who are coping with the impacts of COVID-19.
The funds are eligible for costs related to increasing storage capacity, including finding storage solutions for live, frozen or processed products; plant operations such as new investments in equipment, materials or services to protect workers, adapt plant operations, products or packaging, or increase efficiency; and meeting new market demands, including responding to new consumer needs, finding new markets, and delivering to them.
June 18, 2020 — The Canadian Fish and Seafood Opportunities Fund (CFSOF) has been reopened to help the country’s seafood industry access new consumer markets, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hurt its economy, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard Bernadette Jordan announced on 17 June.
The fund, which was initially launched in 2018, is a national cost-sharing federal, provincial, and territorial program aimed at aiding Canada’s seafood sector in addressing new market-access issues and identifying branding opportunities. Ultimately, the program seeks to “maximize the value of Canada’s world-class fish and seafood,” the Canadian government affirmed in a press release.
April 1, 2020 — Canada has moved to support its fisheries and aquaculture sectors with an aid package that will provide both direct and indirect support to the industry and its employees.
Canadian Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard Bernadette Jordan announced aquaculture and seafood processing companies will have access to the CAD 5 billion (USD 3.5 billion, EUR 3.2 billion) Farm Credit Canada loan program. And fishermen, processing workers, and front-line aquaculture workers are entitled to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, which provides CAD 2,000 (USD 1,400, EUR 1,300) per month for up to four months for workers who lose their income as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, small- and medium-sized businesses will have accesss to CAD 65 billion (USD 45.7 million, EUR 41.8 million) in support via interest-free loans provided through the Canada Emergency Business Account and the Export Development Canada and Business Development Bank.
March 24, 2020 — According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, there are no changes at this time to the current plan to add 35,000 visas to the country’s H-2B temporary worker program.
That announcement initially came prior to the coronavirus pandemic that’s shut down several sectors of the U.S. economy. Over the weekend, the U.S. enacted bilateral agreements with Canada and Mexico to shut down the borders for non-essential travel, which includes tourism and recreational travel, in an attempt to control the spread of COVID-19. After that move, it was initially in doubt as to whether the H-2B program expansion would continue as planned.
February 28, 2020 — Canadian fisheries regulators are taking new steps aimed at protecting endangered North Atlantic right whales from entanglement in fishing gear and vessel strikes. These steps include temporary closures of certain lobster and crab fishing areas.
Most of the right whales found dead over the past four years have been found off Canada — likely because climate-driven shifts in their prey’s abundance have led them to new feeding grounds in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where managers were initially unprepared for their arrival.
Bernadette Jordan, Canada’s Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, announced new protective measures in Ottawa Thursday.
“What we’ve learned throughout this time is that these marine mammals are unpredictable and no longer aggregate or feed in the same areas they once did,” Jordan says. “It’s why each season our measures change and evolve to be more effective than they were the year before.”