New organization award salmon conservation funds
Canada: Work to conserve wild Atlantic salmon stocks got a CAD 275,000 boost when the new Atlantic Salmon Conservation Foundation (ASCF) announced its first round of successful grant applications. A total of 21 projects in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and Quebec received funding in amounts ranging from CAD 1600 to CAD 44,500.
The Atlantic Salmon Conservation Foundation is a volunteer, non-profit, charitable organization established with the goal of helping to achieve healthy and sustainable wild Atlantic salmon stocks in Atlantic Canada and Québec. Funded with a start-up grant of CAD 30 million from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Foundation has created a trust fund to promote and strengthen partnerships among groups working to conserve wild Atlantic salmon. Conservation projects and program administration are financed from interest earned by the trust fund.
In addition to the CAD 50,000 allocated to each province, the ASCF Central Advisory Committee awarded a CAD 25,000 grant to the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) in recognition of its broad, regional application and contribution to salmon conservation. ASF will use its grant to purchase "sonic pingers" as part of its Smolt Assessment and Tracking Research Program, which is investigating the freshwater and marine phases of the salmon's migration.
The next round of applications grants will open on 1 November 2008.
