Ongoing research into the effects of climate change off Nova Scotia could be in trouble because of uncertainty over federal funding.
The money for a five-year, $5-million project in Lunenburg Bay came from the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, but the agency's future is in limbo.
The federal Conservative government has not renewed its funding and the foundation has stopped accepting applications.
Across Canada, dozens of projects will wind down in the next few years. Dalhousie University's Lunenburg Bay project is in its final year, but scientists hope to continue their research.
Without continued funding, researchers fear their teams will disappear.
"For Canadian science in general across the country, I am concerned," said John Cullen, an oceanography professor and one of the leaders of the Lunenburg Bay project.
"If we have too much of an interruption we are going to see [the teams] leave the country and go somewhere else."
For the Lunenburg Bay project, automated sensors on the surface of the water and below measure wind, waves, temperatures and even microscopic organisms.
Cullen said that information is needed to predict ocean weather, promising a better understanding of climate change in coastal areas.
Officials from the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences say they have begun to make their case to the federal government.
No one from Environment Minister John Baird's office responded to requests for a comment.
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Keywords: Nova Scotia, Lunenburg Bay, Atmospheric Sciences, Canadian Foundation, Toronto Raptors
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