$300M in renewed Atlantic fisheries money targets new markets

The federal government is renewing $300 million in funding for the Atlantic fisheries industry. That means consistent help for local processors, who say it's crucial for the sector, especially amid trade tensions with the U.S. This industry is resilient, but I mean, for sure, support like this is really encouraging and pushes people forward, as I said, to improve an industry that's incredibly important to eastern Canada. The Atlantic Fisheries Fund helps with innovation and infrastructure needs in the Atlantic region. It's available to all four Atlantic provinces. Tariffs and trade disputes are a big worry. They shake market confidence and they make it harder for companies to plan. I've heard that loud and clear on wharves and in plants across Atlantic Canada. Our government is not sitting back. We will keep pushing for fair, stable, rules-based trade and we will keep backing the people who built this industry. This latest funding is split between two levels of government. The federal government is paying 60%, while the Atlantic provinces are covering 40%. It will help fund projects over the next five years. For a project to be eligible, it needs to fall into one of four areas. The first is market diversification, what the federal government calls making the sector more resilient to global trade disruptions. It includes export-focused marketing and research. The second is innovation, new ideas or partnerships that improve productivity and sustainability of the fish and seafood sector. Projects can also fall under infrastructure, for new technologies, processes and equipment. And finally, there are science partnerships, to study the conditions of the industry, like sustainable harvesting. It's something that the industry was advocating strongly for, for a long time. It was strongly felt that the previous iteration of the program really helped solidify the industry in many ways. And sometimes entering new markets can involve a whole bunch of stuff in terms of different regulations, packaging, languages. A lot have installed new equipment, new processing technologies in their plants. The fund has been in place since 2017. According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, it's led to more than a thousand projects. Some of them include innovations in processing, freezing and shipping seafood, studying climate change impacts and upgrades to vessels to store live product. According to a federal press release, projects eligible under the previous version of the fund will continue to be eligible. Atlantic Fisheries Fund staff are accepting applications as of now.