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Advancing aquaculture solutions to protect wild salmon and the marine environment.
In 2010, Tides Canada established the Salmon Aquaculture Innovation Fund. The Fund has now completed its work to advance aquaculture solutions that protect wild salmon and the marine environment and building a viable and sustainable aquaculture industry in British Columbia, and is now closed.
To achieve its objective, the Innovation Fund supported research and demonstration projects of land-based, closed containment aquaculture systems and associated new technologies that offer alternative models to traditional open-net aquaculture. The research and projects supported the perspective that investing in research into land-based salmon aquaculture will help British Columbian communities benefit from the economic opportunities that come with providing environmentally sustainable seafood.
The $6 million Fund supported research in British Columbia in the following aspects of closed containment aquaculture:
Building on over $5-million in grants from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC, and a group of committed individual Canadian donors, the Innovation Fund was designed to support research that harnesses the best people, ideas and strategies. This work involved close collaboration with governments, industry, environmental organizations, and First Nations to explore and advance the adoption of closed containment production systems as a means to foster protection of the environment and of wild salmon.
The Innovation Fund was led by a Donors Advisory Committee appointed by Tides Canada with input from major donors with direct project funding recommendations informed by project proposal evaluations made by a qualified Technical Advisory Committee.
Direct funding was available to projects located in British Columbia and required matching government or industry funding. Projects also needed to demonstrate a contribution to the research objectives of the Innovation Fund. For information about the Fund, contact Catherine Emrick, Senior Associate, Aquaculture Innovation, Tides Canada.