The Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE) has been awarded C$835,000 from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) to strengthen its research and monitoring efforts.
The funding supports fish and mammal hydro-acoustic sensor research, monitoring equipment, and data collection, as well as underwater monitoring platform deployment and recovery.
Furthermore, FORCE will use the funding to upgrade IT infrastructure and internet capability, and enhance data display of environmental data, both at the FORCE visitor centre and online.
Tony Wright , FORCE General Manager, said: “To harness the enormous power of the Bay of Fundy responsibly, we have to understand it. This funding will advance improve our ability to get good site data in the challenging conditions of the Minas Passage, and help us better understand the interaction between tidal technology and the environment.”
FORCE said the expanded IT capabilities will provide an opportunity to evaluate the potential of marine life monitoring equipment, offering equipment developers and scientists real-time internet access to site data.