Ocean Aware Project

Canada’s Ocean Supercluster announced the Ocean Aware project in July 2020. The Ocean Aware project will develop and commercialize world-class solutions for monitoring fish health, fish movement and the environment and supporting both profitable and sustainable practices in the ocean.

Part of Canada’s Ocean Supercluster

The Ocean Supercluster will provide $13.74 million in funding for the project, with $15.7M in funding coming from industry partners. Ocean Aware is led by Innovasea. Partners include: Emera, NS Power, Ocean Choice International, Irving Shipbuilding, Dartmouth Ocean Technologies and Xeos Technologies, with the support of the Ocean Tracking Network, Dalhousie University, Fisheries Marine Institute of Memorial University, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and others.

Our Role

We will be providing access to our White Rock Hydro System and providing our expertise as Innovasea collects important data on different species.

This technology will give us a better picture of the presence and movement of fish in real time and allow us to build on some of the work we have done, to protect fish habitat.

This is about investing in our future and continuing to look at ways to ensure we are providing reliable, affordable power to our customers while operating in the most efficient, environmentally friendly way.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are you choosing to test this at the White Rock Hydro station?

White Rock is a good location because it has a number of moving parts with the canal, head pond and downstream passage area. We have made a number of improvements at our White Rock facility including necessary upgrades to our fish passage structures that allow fish to move around barriers such as dams. This technology will enhance that work. There are multiple species at White Rock and we have seen fish activity increase significantly in each of the last four years (over a million in each of the last four years – up from about 400,000).

For the latest information, visit: https://oceansupercluster.ca/ocean-aware-project-announcement-news/

Why is this important?

Protecting our environment is a priority for us and is an integral part of our decision making. It is important to have good information around fish at our facilities in order to operate efficiently and in the most environmentally friendly way. We want to continue to have the best information we can to ensure our due diligence when it comes to protecting fish habitat and the environment. The opportunity to work with like-minded partners to develop and test this leading-edge technology will assist us in better tracking and understanding the fish health and movement in our operating facilities.

How does this technology work?

This technology will help better detect the presence and movement of fish in the water around our facilities in real time. It takes an electronic picture to get a better idea of what’s going on. It will also develop and test better sensors in addition to the algorithms/software. Having this information allows us to continue to look at ways to avoid impact to fish and operate in an environmentally friendly way.

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