The Government of Canada takes action to protect aquatic species at risk in British Columbia Français

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Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Pacific Region

Mar 05, 2025, 13:00 ET

VANCOUVER, BC, March 5, 2025 /CNW/ - Nature is a key part of Canada's national identity. The health of our aquatic environment, and the wildlife within, supports our culture, well-being, and the economy in British Columbia (BC) and across Canada. Yet some of the aquatic species that make their home in the waters throughout BC are at risk and need help to survive. We must continue to take action to protect them.

Today, the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Honourable Diane Lebouthillier, announced $4.79 million in funding for ten projects as part of the Canada Nature Fund for Aquatic Species at Risk (CNFASAR). This investment directly supports conservation and recovery for aquatic species at risk in BC.

  • Seven of the funded projects will benefit aquatic species at risk in the Fraser and Columbia River watersheds. These priority watersheds host 70% of the Pacific Region's freshwater aquatic species at risk.
  • Projects in these watersheds include initiatives to restore degraded habitat and address threats from invasive species, and research to better understand and mitigate threats to survival and recovery.
  • The other three funded projects will address impacts to aquatic species at risk in the marine environment, including entanglement, bycatch, physical and acoustic threats.
  • Collectively, these projects will benefit a wide variety of aquatic species at risk in BC, including Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel, Nooksack Dace, Salish Sucker, Speckled Dace, Green and White sturgeon, Grey Whales, and BC's iconic Killer Whales.

Through project partnerships, the CNFASAR focuses on the recovery and protection of aquatic species as risk by enabling a variety of approaches in nine priority freshwater places and against two priority marine threats.

Through this Fund, under the Nature Legacy Initiative, the Government of Canada is helping to build a culture of conservation, and one that empowers Canadian organizations to join in the collaborative efforts to conserve nature. Since 2018, the CNFASAR has funded over 140 projects for over $110 million across Canada that support the conservation of biodiversity through collaboration and partnership to recover aquatic species at risk.

Quotes

"At Fisheries and Oceans Canada, we're proud of the results achieved through projects supported by the Canada Nature Fund for Aquatic Species at Risk, which aim to protect aquatic species at risk. However, there is still work to be done. That's why it's crucial that the Government of Canada continues to support initiatives essential to the preservation and restoration of these vulnerable species. With the funding of these new projects, we are pleased to collaborate with partners in British Columbia to invest in initiatives that will have a tangible impact on protecting our aquatic habitats and endangered species."

The Honourable Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

Quick Facts

CNFASAR's nine priority areas identified are located in:

  • Fraser and Columbia Watersheds (BC)
  • Rocky Mountains' Eastern Slopes (AB)
  • Southern Prairies (AB, SK, MB)
  • Arctic (NU, NWT, YT, Arctic Ocean)
  • Lower Great Lakes Watershed (ON)
  • St. Lawrence Lowlands (QC)
  • Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence Rivers (NB, NS, PEI)
  • Bay of Fundy and Southern Uplands Watersheds (NS, NB)
  • Southern Newfoundland (NL)

The two priority marine threats to aquatic species that CNFASAR addresses are:

  • Fishing interactions such as entanglements and bycatch of aquatic species at risk;
  • Physical and acoustic disturbance, including vessel collisions and marine noise.

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Backgrounder

Government of Canada takes action to protect aquatic species at risk in British Columbia 

The following 10 projects are receiving funding under the Canadian Nature Fund for Aquatic Species at Risk (CNFASAR) to support conservation and recovery efforts.

Project Recipient

Project Description

Project Funding

BC Ministry of Water, Land &
Resource Stewardship

A collaboration with Indigenous communities
to mitigate known and emerging threats from
aquatic invasive species to aquatic species at risk
throughout the Fraser and Columbia
watersheds.

$797,236

McEachran Institute

Learning more about distribution and habitat
requirements of Rocky Mountain Ridged
Mussel in the Okanagan basin, and Speckled
Dace in the Kettle Valley watershed, to
understand how these species respond to
climate change and other potential threats.

$147,000

Canadian Wildlife Federation

Reducing incidental entanglement of whales
in fixed-gear fisheries, particularly the prawn
and crab fisheries, in the coastal waters of
British Columbia through engagement and
operational gear trials.

$896,450

University of British Columbia

Stream channel restoration on Pepin Creek in
the Fraser Valley to support recovery of
endangered Nooksack Dace and threatened 
Salish Sucker.

$102,941

University of British Columbia

A user-friendly application will be developed
to model the cumulative effects of impacts on
habitat, such as land-use and climate change,
on Salish Sucker and Nooksack Dace in the
lower Fraser Valley area. Modelling will help
prioritize recovery actions.

$271,604

W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership
Council

Four new multimodal thermal imaging
detection systems will be added to the
existing whale detection system used by the
QENTOL, YEN/WSANEC Marine Guardian
Program in Active Pass to decrease ship-strikes
of cetaceans, including Southern Resident
and Transient Killer Whales, Humpback and
Grey Whales.

 

$650,000

Okanagan Nation Alliance

Decommissioning the Equesis (6 Mile) Dam
and restoring an incised section of creek
between Equesis Dam and Okanagan Lake
to benefit Chinook Salmon and Rocky
Mountain Ridged Mussel.

$499,787

 

Lower Fraser Fisheries
Alliance

A continuation of the Lower Fraser Fisheries
Alliance (LFFA) educational and monitoring
efforts in the lower Fraser River area. This
funding will enable the LFFA to expand their
programs to include Green Sturgeon as well
as White Sturgeon.

$101,200

Lheidli T'enneh First Nation

Lheidli T'enneh First Nation's mark-recapture
program will sample for adult and juvenile
White Sturgeon on the Fraser River between
Quesnel and Prince George, and on the
lower Nechako River, near Prince George.

$340,502

 

North Coast Cetacean
Society

Phase 2 of the expansion of the BC
Hydrophone Network. Improvements to
existing software will facilitate real-time
tracking of whales and vessels. An acoustic
alert system will be developed to notify
vessels in the vicinity to reduce the risk of
whale-vessel collisions.

$980,000

SOURCE Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Pacific Region

For more information: Andrew Richardson, Acting Director of Communications, Office of the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, [email protected]; Media Relations, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 613-990-7537, [email protected]

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Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Pacific Region