The Government of Canada is helping Quebec fisheries and aquaculture businesses improve environmental sustainability and business results

August 5, 2019

Rivière-au-Renard, Quebec — Investments in clean technology for fish harvesters and aquaculture farms in Quebec help make them more sustainable and competitive.

Today, the Minister of National Revenue and Member of Parliament for Gaspésie–Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, the Honourable Diane Lebouthillier, on behalf of the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, announced nearly $620,000 in federal funding from the Fisheries and Aquaculture Clean Technology Adoption Program (FACTAP) to support clean economic growth in the Gaspe peninsula and Magdalen Islands.

FACTAP provides $20 million over four years to help businesses incorporate new, clean technologies into their day-to-day operations, accelerating the use of more sustainable and efficient tools, practices and techniques.

Today’s investment will support five projects in the Gaspe peninsula and the Magdalen Islands:

• Pêcheries Oneil Bond will receive $336,803 to install a system that will reduce the incidental catch of juvenile groundfish in the northern shrimp fishery;
• Fermes Marines du Québec will receive $120,947 to install new high-efficiency geothermal heat pumps, allowing the company to reduce carbon emissions and its ecological footprint by disposing of propane boilers;
• Pêcheries Vincent Dupuis will receive $65,876 to purchase eight-sided trawl nets which will help to reduce fuel use and associated carbon emissions;
• Pêcheries Dan Cotton will receive $52,810 to install sonar on a pelagic trawl to improve fuel economy and reduce sea-floor impacts from redfish fishing in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; and
• Les Huîtres Old Harry Inc. of Grosse-Île will receive $42,977 to replace a gas-powered barge-style craft with an electric one that aims to operate with 0% carbon emissions.

The projects receiving funding today will help fisheries and aquaculture businesses adopt greener practices to  improve their energy efficiency and reduce bycatch and carbon emissions.