Sixteen environmental groups across Atlantic Canada say they are facing financial trouble if the federal government does not move more quickly on a funding commitment.

'You really can't go into commitments with other organizations or commit to hiring summer staff.' —Tracy Brown, Bedeque Bay Environmental Management Association

Groups that are part of the Atlantic Coastal Action Program, a federal program created 16 years ago, normally receive news of their funding in December, but this year they have been told they must wait until March.

"We don't know what's going on. Many groups are in limbo. We're not sure: do we close our doors, do we scale back, how long can we go?" Tracy Brown, executive director of P.E.I.'s Bedeque Bay Environmental Management Association, told CBC News on Monday.

The 16 associations belonging to ACAP offer programs like water testing, climate change information and best farming practices. They all rely on federal funding, which this year has been delayed. In an email to CBC, Environment Canada said it's doing a review of how it funds ecosystem projects across Canada.

Brown said waiting until March will be too late.

"You really can't go into commitments with other organizations or commit to hiring summer staff when you're not even sure you're going to be an organization that's going to be in existence," she said.

The Bedeque Bay group employs eight people in the summer. Chris Higginbotham, who teaches science at Three Oaks High School in Summerside, P.E.I., has been a part of its Adopt a River program for the last three years.

"The hands-on skills that they get is invaluable. I could see it leaving a big gap," he said.

ACAP includes one other group on P.E.I., five each in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and four in Newfoundland and Labrador.