Coastal Restoration Fund
Backgrounder
In November 2016, the Government of Canada launched the $1.5 billion national Oceans Protection Plan. Canada’s coastal marine environments greatly contribute to the overall health of our oceans. They are vital to a vast array of marine life, crucial indicators of global marine environmental health, critical to the Canadian economy and important to all Canadians. However, there is global recognition that marine and coastal ecosystems are suffering a decline in biodiversity and irreparable alterations to ecosystem functions.
Under the Oceans Protection Plan the Government has identified coastal restoration as a key priority to addressing threats to aquatic ecosystems and marine biodiversity loss.
The Coastal Restoration Fund addresses historically degraded areas and will support projects that contribute to coastal restoration plans; support the identification of restoration priorities; and threats to marine species located on Canada’s coasts.
We are working closely with key stakeholders and provinces to identify potential projects and refine our priority areas.
We have opened a call-out for expressions of interest, which will close on July 12, 2017. Interested stakeholders can apply online from our website: http://dfo-mpo.gc.ca/oceans/crf-frc/index-eng.html.
Potential priority activities of this new fund across Canada include:
- estuaries
- coastal watersheds
- nearshore habitats
- salt marshes
- eelgrass beds
- beaches used by forage species for:
- spawning
- fry rearing
- shellfish beds
- migratory corridors for salmon and char
- addressing habitat needs for species at risk
Coastal restoration priority areas include, but are not limited to:
- Placentia Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador
- Bay of Islands, Newfoundland and Labrador
- St. John Harbour and the mouth of the St. John River, New Brunswick
- St. Lawrence Estuary, Quebec
- Gulf of St. Lawrence
- Northumberland Strait
- Bay of Fundy
- Bras d’Or Lake, Nova Scotia
- Fraser River, British Columbia
- Strait of Georgia, British Columbia
- Skeena River, British Columbia