Ottawa (Ontario) – The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, on behalf of the Honourable Loyola Hearn, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, today announced federal funding to carry out work at five fishing harbours in Quebec.
"Fisheries play a key role in coastal communities in Quebec’s maritime regions," said Minister Cannon. "This investment will make a major contribution toward ensuring that harbour facilities meet the needs of commercial fishers and their communities for years to come."
The $628,000 investment will be used for projects in fishing harbours on the Gaspé Peninsula, the Magdalen Islands and the North Shore of the St. Lawrence River. This announcement is added to investment totalling $6,565,000 previously announced this year for repairing harbour facilities and dredging.
Projects include paving, repairs to electrical systems, installing floating docks, a retrofit of the winter boat storage area and various maintenance work.
These projects are being undertaken under the Small Craft Harbours Program together with the harbour authorities who manage and operate the facilities for local users. Such close co-operation with clients allows the federal government to continue to provide a safe and operable system of harbours and facilities throughout Canada, in support of commercial fish harvesters.
The Government of Canada understands the importance of small craft harbours to communities across the country. Since February 2006, the permanent annual funding for the Small Craft Harbours Program has been increased by $20 million, with a further $10 million commitment made in Budget 2008 over two years for repairs and environmental cleanup at recreational and non-core fishing harbours to permit the transfer of these harbours to interested parties.
They also have some small similar projects on the west coast ,Van.Isl. with no where near as much funding as in the east . May be this is why they look to close these hatcheries . You can park your boat at a nice state of the art dock with all the bells and whistles ,then go out in your boat fishing for no fish .Just my thoughts