Feds announce $74M for N.S. fishing wharves

Significant federal funding is going toward fixing wharves in Nova Scotia’s coastal communities.

As part of Budget 2024, more than $460 million over three years will be invested for the repair and maintenance of wharves, including those damaged by Hurricane Fiona.

This is on top of DFO’s annual budget of $90 million for these harbours.

On Monday in Glace Bay, Cape Breton-Canso MP Mike Kelloway announced a $74-million investment over three years to continue work at 19 harbours.

According to a release, it will be used to reconstruct and repair wharf launchways and other critical harbour infrastructure, such as Glace Bay, where construction of a marginal wharf is expected to begin in 2026.

More than $11.3-million of this overall investment in Nova Scotia is earmarked for five harbours that sustained serious damage from Hurricane Fiona: Cape John, Ingonish (Macleods Point), Judique (Baxters Cove), Little Judique Ponds, and New Waterford.

In a statement, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, Diane Lebouthillier says, “Small craft harbours are the backbone of our vibrant fishing communities from coast to coast to coast, including here in Nova Scotia. As the nation with the longest coastline in the world, we must invest in resilient harbour infrastructure capable of facing
the climate challenges of today and tomorrow. This is not only a question of economic development, but also of food security. With Budget 2024, we’re giving ourselves the means to achieve our ambitions, by equipping our harvesters with modern harbours where their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will carry on our finest maritime traditions.”

The government says these harbours support more than 45,000 jobs within the commercial fishing industry and had landings valued at almost $4.7 billion in 2022.

Small craft harbours severely impacted by Hurricane Fiona are marked by *.