Government of Canada and Comité ZIP Côte-Nord du Golfe invest in Fish Habitat Restoration project in the Saint-Georges Canal in Port-Menier

From: Fisheries and Oceans Canada

News release

September 4, 2019

Sept-Îles, Quebec — Making our oceans and coasts safer, cleaner and healthier for all Canadians and future generations is a top priority for the Government of Canada.

Today, the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, today announced that the Comité ZIP Côte-Nord du Golfe has been approved for funding of over $500 thousand over three years for the restoration of fish habitat in the Saint-Georges Canal in Port-Menier on Anticosti Island. This funding is provided under the Oceans Protection Plan.

The project aims to reconnect fish habitat between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Lake Saint-Georges by restoring the artificial channel that runs through Port-Menier. To carry out this project, the Comité ZIP Côte-Nord du Golfe will work with the municipality of L'Île-d'Anticosti as well as a team of specialists from the University of Quebec in Rimouski (UQAR) and the private sector. The project will help create one to two jobs.

In May 2017, the Government of Canada announced the $75 million Coastal Restoration Fund to help rehabilitate some of our most vulnerable coastlines and protect marine life and ecosystems. So far, partners have started over 30 multi-year projects that contribute to healthier habitats for fish on all of Canada’s coasts. Most of these projects have included Indigenous involvement.

Launched in November 2016, the five-year, $1.5 billion Oceans Protection Plan is the largest investment ever made to protect Canada’s coasts and waterways. Since the Plan’s launch, the Government of Canada has invested in hundreds of projects that are making our marine safety system stronger, and protecting our coastal environments and marine species more than ever before. Based on the latest science and technology, Indigenous partnerships and collaboration, these projects bring us closer to healthier, cleaner and safer oceans.

Quotes

“Through our Oceans Protection Plan, we are collaborating with communities to make our oceans and coasts safer, cleaner and healthier. The canal and Lac Saint-Georges have significant wildlife potential, particularly for Atlantic salmon, and I am pleased that during the International Year of the Salmon, we are partnering with the Comité ZIP Côte-Nord du Golfe to ensure healthy coastal habitats on Anticosti Island. "

The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

"With the objective of reducing the impacts of human activities on an ecosystem, the project will allow the development of Anticosti Island at a time when its community is actively working to have it inscribed on the World Heritage UNESCO list. The Comité ZIP Côte-Nord du Golfe and its partners therefore believe that this promising project will expand the quality of life in the Port-Menier community by improving its physical environment and by creating a collaborative model bringing together in action municipal, community, private and academic sectors.

This project would not have been possible without the financial contribution of Fisheries and Oceans Canada and its desire to protect our marine and coastal environment. The organization and its board of directors would like to thank the department for its trust and support. We all will meet this challenge for generations to come. "

Marie-Ève Normand, president of the Comité ZIP Côte-Nord du Golfe

Quick facts

  • The main objective of the project is to restore the Saint-Georges Canal to facilitate the movement of American eel, Atlantic salmon and brook trout towards Lake Saint-Georges and its tributaries. To this end, the obstacles to the passage of fish will be removed and a fishway will be built.

  • This project will provide access to the 700,000 m2 of Lake Saint-Georges for the target species, as well as the 64 km2 of the Gamache River watershed and the Trois Milles River, a tributary of Princeton Lake.

Associated links

Contacts

Jocelyn Lubczuk
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans
and the Canadian Coast Guard
343-548-7863
Jocelyn.lubczuk@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Media Relations
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
613-990-7537
Media.xncr@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

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