A humpback whale is seen just outside of Hartley Bay along the Great Bear Rainforest, B.C. on September 17, 2013. The government has announced a fund to clean up the shores of the B.C.'s central coast in a bid to create jobs as communities try to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. It says the $3.5 million Clean Coast, Clean Waters Initiative Fund will allow small ship tour operators, Indigenous Nations and local communities to participate in removal of debris and plastic along the shores of the central coast and the Great Bear Rainforest. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
August 31, 2020 - 1:30 PM
VICTORIA - The British Columbia government has announced a fund to clean up the shoreline of the central coast in a bid to create jobs as communities try to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
It says the $3.5-million fund will allow small ship tour operators, First Nations and local communities to help in the removal of debris and plastic along the shores of the central coast and the Great Bear Rainforest.
The Small Ship Tour Operators Association will remove marine debris.
The association says crew members will inspect and clean up to 1,000 kilometres of remote shoreline around 100 small islands.
The debris will be recycled where possible to reduce the amount of material going into landfills.
Last year, the Great Canadian Shoreline Clean-up removed 163,505 kilograms of debris in Canada, an increase of more than 47,000 kilograms from 2018.
This report was first published by The Canadian Press Aug. 31, 2020.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2020