Purpose
- To provide funding to conserve, enhance, or create fish habitat.
- To provide funding to enhance fish production and protection to meet the demands of the recreational fishery.
Principles
- The program will focus on conservation and/or enhancement of habitat for native species.
- Project goals should achieve and sustain a net gain in fish production.
- Retain, enhance or develop the quantity and quality of fish habitat to ensure the viability, diversity and geographic distribution of native species in New Brunswick.
- Promote the retention or enhancement of fish habitat by increasing public awareness or changing public attitudes.
- Projects and subsequent achievement assessments must be based on accurate, relevant information.
Guidelines
- Proposals will be ranked in priority from a provincial program perspective, and approved on a project by project basis, as funds permit.
- Revenues are to be used primarily for expenditures on habitat retention, enhancement, and development projects.
- Assessment of fish production and habitat conditions for project planning and evaluation is an important component of the habitat program and is eligible for funding.
- Land acquisition for critical fisheries habitat or management programs may be considered. Candidate sites for acquisition should be unique situations or provincially important fisheries.
- Research or investigational projects that will lead to enhanced fish production or protection are to be approved on a priority basis.
- The factors and ranking for priority setting are:
- Naturally reproducing stocks
- Areas of high fishing demand
- Areas with high natural potential for fish production.
- Projects should be in those geographical areas that will provide the greatest benefits to the recreational fishery.
- Development of public access sites for fishing may be acceptable. Selection of potential sites should be limited to those waters which support provincially important fisheries.
- The Wildlife Council will review the Fisheries Development Program project objectives and funding and recommend projects and funding levels to the Minister.