Question Period Note: Fisheries and Aquaculture Clean Technology Adoption Program (FACTAP)

• Economic development and environmental sustainability must go hand-in-hand to enable the long-term health and prosperity of Canada and its citizens.
• To that end, our Government is making strategic investments to promote the adoption of clean technologies, processes, and practices by Canada’s industries, including fisheries and aquaculture producers.
• To date, working with our provincial and industry partners, we have invested more than $18.6 million to help fisheries and aquaculture producers across Canada adopt clean technologies and processes into their day-to-day practices, making them more environmentally sustainable while also increasing their economic competitiveness.

• Federal Budget 2017 committed $200 million over four years to Natural Resources Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to support clean technology research, development and demonstration, and the adoption of clean technology in Canada’s natural resource sectors.
• On December 18, 2017, the Government of Canada announced the Fisheries and Aquaculture Clean Technology Adoption Program (FACTAP), a grants and contribution program that provides up to $20 million over four years to help Canada’s fisheries and aquaculture industries incorporate clean technologies into their operations.
• The program offers funding to Canadian fisheries and aquaculture sectors to assist industry-driven adoption of market-ready clean technologies, processes, and/or sustainable practices into the day-to-day operations of aquaculture facilities and wild capture harvesting. This includes changes or modifications (e.g. adoption) of technologies, processes, and/or sustainable practices in order to render them operational for use in the Canadian context.
• To date, the program and its provincial and private sector partners have allocated $18.6 million towards a total of 76 projects in the adoption of innovative new clean technologies and processes to improve the efficiency and environmental performance of aquaculture, wild capture fisheries, and fish processing across Canada.
• Project breakdown by region: Pacific – 42; Atlantic – 14; Central – 20. Proponents/Involvement include aquaculture operators (37), commercial fishers (33), fish processors (6).
• Projects that are currently underway are focused on the following clean technologies: energy efficient bioreactors and heat pumps; integrations of solar power; environmentally friendly fish harvest equipment and sensors; waste management upgrades; and rapid descender devices for accidental catch species. Several of the projects are providing support for improvements to existing land-based closed containment systems.
• The Fisheries and Aquaculture Clean Technology Program is targeted to sunset at the end of March 2021.

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