The federal government has committed more than $384 million in funding to strengthen
NSCC photo
marine safety as part of the next phase of Canada’s Ocean Protection Plan. Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra made the announcement Tuesday at the NSCC’s Strait Area Campus in Port Hawkesbury, home of the Nautical Institute. The Institute offers Transport Canada approved marine training.
Alghabra says the Oceans Protection Plan has done a lot in the region. He says it helped nearly 350 students complete training through the Marine Training Program at the Nautical Institute. He says the plan also contributed to the removal or assessment of over 84 abandoned boats from Atlantic waterways that posed a risk to safe navigation.
Alghabra says the additional funding will build on current initiatives to make our waters safer. He says that includes better response to marine emergencies to cover more types of pollution than just oil spills, investing in new technologies that would accommodate increases in ship traffic, train more students in marine training programs and establish a new national aerial surveillance program to bolster detection of marine pollution in the arctic.