Budget 2021 proposes millions for ghost gear, Pacific salmon and small harbours | Saltwire

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Extra $10 million for ocean clean up projects

Alexa Goodman, project manager for the Coastal Action group of Nova Scotia, takes a dive for lost fishing gear off Southwest Nova Scotia in 2020.

A federal program to collect ghost gear that goes on killing fish long after being lost at sea got another boost in Monday’s federal budget.

Budget 2021 proposes a $10 million increase, in 2021-22, to the Sustainable Fisheries Solutions and Retrieval Support Program, better known as the Ghost Gear Fund.

This program is managed by Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) with the work carried out by community organizations.

The funding not only covers the costs of retrieval of ghost gear, but enables disposal of fishing-related plastic waste and testing of new fishing technology, according to a spokesperson for DFO.

According to the department, abandoned and lost fishing gear makes up about 70 percent of the total weight of plastic waste in the ocean.

Canada has been working since 2019 to collect this marine litter, through the Ghost Gear program.

Budget 2021 also proposes to provide $300 million, over the next two years, to DFO to repair, renew, and replace small craft harbours.

On the west coast of Canada, the federal government is spending millions to conserve wild Pacific salmon.

A total of $647.1 will be spent over the next five years, starting this budget year for research, new hatchery facilities and salmon habitat restoration projects.

Among other things, the federal government will create a Pacific Salmon Secretariat and Restoration Centre of Expertise.

Another $20 million is earmarked in the budget to consult with the province of British Columbia, industry, scientists, Indigenous communities to develop a plan to transition from open-pen salmon farming in coastal BC waters by 2025.

In addition, $3 million will be spent on a two-year pilot to test management approaches to planning and monitoring of aquaculture activities in priority areas on the B.C. coast.

Budget 2021 also proposes to renew the Fisheries and Aquaculture Clean Technology Adoption Program to assist fish harvesters and aquaculture enterprises to adopt innovative clean technologies.

For more details on the federal budget visit the official website.

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(Originally posted by Dean-Simmons)