Alongside project partners, Canada’s Ocean Supercluster has announced the Ocean Aware project, which will develop and commercialise world-class solutions for monitoring fish health, fish movement, and the environment, and supporting both profitable and sustainable practices in the ocean.
With a total project value of $29 million, the Ocean Supercluster will provide $13.74 million in funding for the project, with $15.7M in funding coming from industry partners.
‘This is a big day for Canada, and Innovasea is proud to be leading this consortium in tackling this important challenge,’ said Innovasea President Mark Jollymore.
‘When this project is complete, we will have given three key maritime industries the technology, tools, understanding and insight they need to operate in a more ecologically sustainable manner. Ultimately, the impact of the Ocean Aware project is going to be felt far beyond Canada and the Atlantic provinces; it will serve as a blueprint for the rest of the world.’
Ocean Aware is led by Innovasea together with Emera, Nova Scotia Power, Ocean Choice International, Irving Shipbuilding, Dartmouth Ocean Technologies, Xeos Technologies, and with the support of the Ocean Tracking Network, Dalhousie University, Fisheries Marine Institute of Memorial University, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and others.
‘The Ocean Aware project is a game-changing project that demonstrates the transformational opportunities we have in ocean innovation when we bring partners from across ocean sectors together. This will create significant benefits for Canadians now and for generations to come. To bring this to fruition while we continue to see the impacts of a global pandemic only adds to its significance,’ commented Canada’s Ocean Supercluster CEO Kendra MacDonald.
The initiative represents the first collaboration of its kind across ocean sectors in fisheries, aquaculture, energy, shipping, and ocean technology where the project team will develop world leading aquaculture technology to monitor fish health, new approaches to stock assessment modelling and predictive fishing in the wild fishery, and innovative and increased capability to monitor marine life around fixed subsea structures. This will not only enable ocean growth that is sustainable, but also disrupt competition on a global scale, position Canada as a leader, and help grow the economy and create new jobs.
‘We are pleased to be a partner in the Ocean Aware Project; and to be working with global industry leaders in innovation and technology from Atlantic Canada and with the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University to build new spatial stock assessment models to support sustainable fisheries,’ said Martin Sullivan, CEO of fishing and processing company Ocean Choice.
‘It is extremely important to Ocean Choice that we invest in finding new innovative solutions for smarter fishing. Projects such as this, will allow us to better understand species distribution and movement between stock boundaries that will ultimately lead to more predictive fishing models where we can optimise performance within a sustainability framework.’
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster aims to change the way ocean business is done. With an innovative model for growth that reduces risk for Canadian companies, we are increasing collaboration and data exchange across ocean sectors, creating a platform for the development for commercial, sustainable ocean solutions, building an inclusive and highly-capable workforce, and continuing to drive resiliency in our oceans.
