Funding announced for Fisheries Heritage Architecture Preservation Initiative

Gerry Byrne, Minister of State for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Julie Bettney, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation, and Kelvin Parsons, Minister of Industry, Trade and Rural Development (Acting) have announced funding for a Fisheries Heritage Preservation Initiative. Developed by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, this new initiative will protect specific examples of Newfoundland and Labrador's heritage fisheries architecture and cultural landscapes. The initiative will receive $55,342 from the Cultural and Heritage Industries Element of the Canada-Newfoundland Comprehensive Economic Development Agreement.

"The unique architecture that has evolved in our coastal communities reflects the importance of the fishing industry, and remains a tangible reminder of our history," said Minister Byrne. "This project will help to identify and protect significant examples of these important cultural sites for future generations."

"Preserving these structures clearly strengthens our pride and identity and further develops our cultural tourism product," said Minister Bettney. "Through this project, we are helping to ensure that we honour and protect the legacy left to us by the fisher men and women who made their living along our North Atlantic coasts."

Ruth Canning, Chair of the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, is pleased that government has announced its support for the Fisheries Heritage Architecture Preservation Initiative. "Newfoundland's cultural landscape is unmistakably different from that of its North American neighbours," says Canning. "But significant inshore fisheries infrastructure throughout the province, our flakes, stages, and fishing premises, are under threat. Once they vanish, they can not be replaced. The need for a place to make and dry fish and to shelter fishers produced characteristic building types which were once common around the Atlantic rim," explains Canning. "Today they are most numerous in Newfoundland and Labrador."

The Fisheries Heritage Architecture Preservation Initiative will provide funding to support specific fishery heritage preservation objectives of the foundation. Assistance will be provided for restoration of heritage features using original materials. Since its establishment by the provincial government in 1984, the Heritage Foundation has designated over 200 buildings -- from fishermen's cottages, stores, to provincial landmarks -- as Registered Heritage Structures. The foundation has also provided restoration grants totalling over $820,000, resulting in a spin-off economic effect of close to eight times that amount.

The Cultural and Heritage Industries element of the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Comprehensive Economic Development Agreement is a three-year, $3.4 million fund administered federally by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Canadian Heritage, and provincially by the Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation. The fund is overseen by advisory committees comprised of leaders in the cultural and heritage industries in the province.

Media contact:
     Peter A. H. Graham, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of State for ACOA, (613) 957-9959
     Doug Burgess, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, (709) 772-2935
     Carmel Turpin, Communications, Tourism, Culture and Recreation, (709) 729-0928
     Josephine Cheeseman, Communications, Industry, Trade and Rural Development, (709) 729-4570
     George Chalker, Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, (709) 739-1892

2002 04 19                        4:15 p.m.