Sportfish Habitat Fund
The Nova Scotia Sportfish Habitat Fund was established in 2005 in response to a request by organized angling groups to provide financial support to volunteers working on the protection of fish habitat and improvement of public access to the sportfishing resource. The $5.91 Habitat Fund fee added to General and Salmon licenses provides funding to community groups involved in habitat restoration projects.
In 2022, the Nova Scotia Sportfish Habitat Fund provided $340,000. A total of $305,000 was granted to the Nova Scotia Salmon Association’s Adopt-A-Stream Program which funded 21 fish habitat restoration projects undertaken by community and First Nation groups throughout the province. This work improved 84,000 m2 of habitat and included planting 7,000 trees in important riparian zones to stabilize banks and reduce sedimentation. Since the inception of the program, projects like these have restored more than 1.2 million m2 of spawning, rearing, over-wintering, and cool water summer refugia habitat for salmon and trout. Habitat connectivity continues to be an important component of several projects and fish passage was improved at 19 crossings, increasing access to 41 km of habitat for migrating fish.
In addition to these projects, the Nova Scotia Salmon Association received $15,000 for a liming project on the West River Sheet Harbour and $25,000 for catchment liming by helicopter in the same watershed.