| Fisheries and Oceans Canada | backgrounders
The Sargasso Sea, located near Bermuda, is a unique, high-seas marine ecosystem. The ecologically and biologically significant area is unique because it is an area of open ocean bounded on all sides by the clockwise flow of major ocean currents.
| Fisheries and Oceans Canada | backgrounders
The Canadian Coast Guard operates a large and diverse array of assets across Canada, including a fleet of 117 vessels, 22 helicopters, some 17,000 aids to navigation and more than 420 communications towers. Together, they contribute to the safe passage through Canadian waters of more than 5,600 commercial vessels, 18,000 commercial fishers, and 6 million recreational boaters each year.
| Fisheries and Oceans Canada | backgrounders
As part of the Government of Canada's commitment to creating a national network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) under the Oceans Act (1996) and plan to reach its domestic and international marine conservation targets supported by Budget 2016, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) designated Anguniaqvia niqiqyuam as the newest official marine protected area on November 16, 2016.
| Fisheries and Oceans Canada | backgrounders
The M/V Kathryn Spirit was built in 1967. The vessel had been in operation as a merchant ship for many years. The vessel has been bought by Excavation René Saint-Pierre Inc., and towed on September 8, 2011 to its current location in Beauharnois, in the Montérégie region, in the facilities of Excavation René St-Pierre Inc. in order to be dismantled on site.
| Fisheries and Oceans Canada | backgrounders
The Government of Canada recognizes the risks abandoned, derelict and wrecked vessels in Canadian waters pose to safe navigation, the marine environment, public health and local economies.
| Fisheries and Oceans Canada | backgrounders
Partnerships and collaborations with universities, environmental organizations, Indigenous groups and other stakeholders ensure that we have access to the best available science to make decisions about Canada's oceans, lakes and rivers.
| Fisheries and Oceans Canada | backgrounders
The Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, announced the Government of Canada's commitment to put in place a plan to reach its domestic and international marine conservation targets of protecting 5 percent of Canada's marine and coastal areas by 2017 and 10 percent by 2020.
| Fisheries and Oceans Canada | backgrounders
The Government of Canada is committed to the protection of Canada's wild salmon stocks. To do so, and in line with the Cohen Commission recommendations, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is collaborating with the Pacific Salmon Foundation and Genome BC on a multi-year Strategic Salmon Health Initiative (SSHI). This initiative is an eight year, four-phase project that merges genomics and fish health technologies to map microbes in British Columbia (BC) salmon. In addition, it is intended to better understand the microbes' possible origins and potential mechanisms of interactions with wild and cultured salmon.
| Fisheries and Oceans Canada | backgrounders
Starting in 2016-17, the Government of Canada is investing $197.1 million over five years to increase ocean and freshwater scientific research and monitoring at Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
| Fisheries and Oceans Canada | backgrounders
Managing fisheries based on robust scientific evidence is a priority for the government, and the long-term sustainability of the arctic surf clam fishery is the government's primary concern.
