Award Winners Named

Environment/Labour, Agriculture/Fisheries

The Acadia Centre for Estuarine Research in Wolfville was doubly honoured today at a ceremony in Halifax celebrating individuals and groups for protecting the Gulf of Maine and its watershed.

Dr. Mike Brylinsky, a scientist at the centre, received the Gulf of Maine Council Visionary Award. The centre itself, located at Acadia University, won a Nova Scotia Environmental Awareness Award.

"The centre and its staff have displayed an impressive commitment and dedication to the preservation of the marine environment of the Gulf of Maine and Bay of Fundy," Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Ernest Fage said in presenting the award at the Museum of Natural History.

Other award winners included the Bay of Fundy Marine Resource Centre in Cornwallis and the Western Valley Development Authority, which supports and sustains economic growth in Digby and Annapolis counties.

Acting Environment and Labour Minister Angus MacIsaac congratulated the development authority on its sustainable- development focus.

"By setting their sights high, the authority has spotlighted best practices throughout the valley and the Gulf of Maine," he said.

The Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment was established in 1989 by the governments of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine to foster co- operation in the Gulf of Maine watershed. Its mission is to maintain and enhance environmental quality in the Gulf of Maine and to allow for sustainable resource use by existing and future generations.