The federal government is promising more than $2 million for Vancouver Island salmon restoration projects.
Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson was in Colwood Monday to announce the funding as part of an ongoing $142-million B.C. salmon restoration commitment from Ottawa.
The island projects include weirs on the Cowichan River, a wet lab in Campbell River to study interactions between farmed and wild salmon, and research projects at the University of Victoria.
"Climate change is impacting salmon in all types of ways right now," Wilkinson told CTV News. "If we don’t get a handle on climate change, the salmon is going to have very, very serious challenges."
Courtenay-Comox MLA Ronna-Rae Leonard was on-hand for the funding announcement, which she said highlighted the importance of partnerships between governments, Indigenous groups and non-profit societies.
“We cannot simply hand off the task of [protecting wild salmon] to future generations," Wilkinson said. "We must, and we are, taking real action now so that our children and grandchildren can enjoy healthy and abundant wild salmon populations in British Columbia.”
