Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund - BC

Hi Jonathan Wilkinson/Jocelyn Lubczuk et al

I have been looking over the Funding Focus and so on for the above fund on your site: http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/initiatives/fish-fund-bc-fonds-peche-cb/index-eng.html. And: http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/initiatives/fish-fund-bc-fonds-peche-cb/apply-demande-page01-eng.html.

Why does the fund not have the straight forward goal of freshwater habitat restoration for salmon? This is the most important thing to do for wild BC salmon, and where most of the money – the $142M over six years – should go.

For example, the first funding goal says (my underlining):

·  innovation to encourage the development of new technologies to:

• increase productivity
• help meet conservation and sustainability objectives, including the protection and restoration of wild BC stocks, including Pacific salmon

But there is no need for new technologies, to get into a stream and fix its habitat. And there is no innovation required to fix freshwater habitat. What is required is people/businesses willing to donate time/equipment to a rehabilitation project. And putting the money with the Pacific Salmon Foundation that has a proven track record in doing these projects, and leverages money 4 to 7 times, because of all the volunteers it works with, is where the money should go.

Also, increase productivity doesn’t say what kind of productivity is being talked about. And why is new technology a requirement to get funding?

And why does ‘habitat restoration’, which should be the focus of the funding, get relegated to the last clause, and may or may not need to be included?

Also, what wild stocks are you talking about if including Pacific Salmon is only one kind of stock that DFO is talking about?

The second funding goal suffers the same kinds of issues, and the third has no relationship to freshwater habitat restoration.

FYI one of my personal projects is: the effects of climate change on salmon and methods for eliminating negative effects. I will send it your way, once I have finished.

Thanks

DC (Dennis) Reid