Prime Minister announces new support for Canada’s fish harvesters 
CA Source: Ottawa 5/14/2020

Canadians working in the fishing industry are feeling the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. That is why the Government of Canada is taking action to support those workers, who help provide families and communities across the country with high-quality fish and seafood.

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced up to $469.4 million in new measures to support Canada’s fish harvesters, who are economically impacted by the pandemic but cannot access existing federal measures. This investment builds on the $62.5 million for the new Canadian Seafood Stabilization Fund announced last month to help Canada’s fish and seafood processing sector.
 

The Government of Canada will:

Launch the Fish Harvester Benefit, a program worth up to $267.6 million, to help provide income support for this year’s fishing seasons to eligible self-employed fish harvesters and sharespersons crew who cannot access the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy. Support will be provided to those that experience fishing income declines of greater than 25 per cent in the 2020 tax year, compared with a reference period to be identified. This measure covers 75 per cent of fishing income losses beyond a 25 per cent income decline threshold, up to a maximum individual entitlement equivalent to what is provided under the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy ($847 per week for up to 12 weeks).
Launch the Fish Harvester Grant, a program worth up to $201.8 million, to provide grants to help fish harvesters impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and who are ineligible for the Canada Emergency Business Account or equivalent measures. This will give them more liquidity to address non-deferrable business costs. The program would provide non-repayable support of up to $10,000 to self-employed fish harvesters with a valid fishing licence. Size of the non-repayable support will vary depending on the level of fish harvesters’ historic revenue.
Propose measures or changes to Employment Insurance (EI) that would allow self-employed fish harvesters and sharespersons to access EI benefits on the basis of insurable earnings from previous seasons (winter and summer claims).

Additional details on these measures will be made available soon.

The Government of Canada is committed to supporting the resilience of Canada’s food system and its workers. We will continue to monitor and respond to the wide-ranging impacts of COVID-19, and take additional actions as needed to protect the health and safety of Canadians, and stabilize the economy.

 
Continue...

News Id SourceStampcountry
5551Studies shed light on impact of virus on farmed Atlantic salmon in B.C.THE CANADIAN PRESS2019-03-13CA
5552Scientific experts say fish virus poses low risk to Fraser River sockeyeThe Canadian Press2019-03-08CA
5553Study gives scientists unprecedented data on young Atlantic salmon in East Coast rivers The Canadian Press2019-03-15CA
5554Consistent fishing on Arrow LakesTrail Times2019-03-14CA
5555Province rolls out new fish and hunting licence systemCBC News2018-11-28CA
5556Why the Amazon River Can't Be Crossed By Bridgecntraveler2018-04-09BR
555723 Percent of Southern California Fish is Mislabeled 7SAN DIEGO2019-03-09US
5558Fishing for black crappie a Holland River shell gameYorkregion2019-03-11CA
5559A Look at the Rainbow Trout of KamloopsKamloops2019-03-01CA
5560Six new species of tentacle-faced fish discovered in AmazonThe Independent2019-03-07US
5561British mackerel has sustainable status stripped after years of overfishingindependent2019-03-06UK

219 220 221 222 of [222 - pages.]