A unique collaboration between government scientists, academics and the fisheries industry is out of money and facing an uncertain future after spending five years studying a variety of issues affecting the marine sector.
The Canadian Fisheries Research Network received $10 million from government and the fishing industry over five years and is officially due to wrap up in December.
But members of the network, who were meeting in Halifax today, say it's critical that new funding be made available so they can continue research projects that looked at everything from monitoring marine protected areas to seals and their effect on recovering fish species.
Remy Rochette, a marine scientist at the University of New Brunswick, says the collaboration allowed him to closely examine the structure and movement of lobster stocks in more than a dozen locations in Atlantic Canada.
His findings show that there is a lot of movement of lobsters between fishing areas, along with some genetic differences between different groupings of lobster.
He says that could affect the structure of fishing zones and the future management of a stock worth more than $680 million in landed values in 2013.
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.