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WORKING TOGETHER WITHIN AN ECOSYSTEM
A BAY OF PROMISE |
The Bay of Fundy linking New Brunswick and Nova Scotia is a
270 kilometre northern extension of the productive Gulf of Maine coastal ecosystem.
The Bay's 1300 kilometres of coastline ranges from rugged, rocky headlands flanking its
mouth to the broad mudflats and salt marshes of its inner reaches. It has long been of
great economic, ecological and scientific importance, largely because of its world
renowned tides that can exceed 16 metres in height.
Engineers have dreamed of harnessing these tidal flows for generating electricity.
Scientists too have been interested in the ecological relationships between the
Bay's surging waters and its abundant living resources. The tidal turbulence stirs
dissolved nutrients into the sunlit surface waters where these natural fertilisers
stimulate the production of plant and animal plankton These in turn support the
large populations of fish, seabirds and marine mammals that are the mainstay of the
region's important fisheries as well as its rapidly expanding ecotourism industry. The
restless circulation also stirs up fine sediments of the upper Bay and moulds them into
the productive salt marshes and mudflats that are critical habitats for waterfowl and
millions of migrating shorebirds. The rapid tidal flushing also makes Fundy's coastal
embayments attractive sites for the aquaculture of a wide range of marine species.
The Bay of Fundy is unquestionably a dynamic, highly productive and ecologically
diverse coastal ecosystem that is blessed with an abundance of valuable
renewable resources. |
A BAY AT RISK |
However, there are growing signs that all is not well in the Bay
of Fundy. Worrisome changes seem to be happening in its roiling waters.
Declining fish stocks threaten many coastal communities. Many other wildlife species
have declined in numbers or mysteriously changed distributions. Collisions between ships
and endangered North Atlantic Right Whales illustrate the vulnerability of these giants.
In the upper Bay, changes in salt marshes and mud flats threaten many species
dependent on these productive habitats.
Causeways and dams obstruct many rivers flowing into
the Bay, and there is evidence that these may have altered sediment transport and other
ecological processes over wide areas. The millions of shorebirds that feed voraciously on
the Fundy mudflats during their annual migration from the Arctic to South America seem to
be having trouble finding enough food to build up the fat reserves needed for the
gruelling 4000 km non-stop flight. Sewage contamination has closed many highly productive
clam flats, and scientists are finding a growing list of potentially hazardous chemicals
in seawater, bottom sediments and marine organisms. In many areas, productive bottom
habitats are being degraded by intensive and destructive harvesting methods. And on the
Annapolis River, the spinning turbines of a tidal power plant kill large numbers of
migrating fish each year.
With each such assault the vitality and
integrity of the Fundy ecosystem is imperceptibly diminished. Slowly but surely we have
been undermining the sustainability of the Bay's living resources and curtailing future
economic opportunities. In recent years scientists have begun to question the adequacy of
their understanding of the Bay's oceanographic and ecological processes with respect to
some of these issues. |
THE ORIGINS OF BOFEP |
In order
to review the current state of scientific knowledge of the ecosystem, the Fundy Marine
Ecosystem Science Project (FMESP) was initiated in 1995, and held its first science
workshop at Wolfville, Nova Scotia in January 1996. The outcome of that review was
acceptance of the need for further integrated research on the Bay at an ecosystem scale.
Given the changing nature of coastal management, it was recognised that a broader
organisation was also needed that could serve to link the scientific enterprises with
which FMESP was concerned, to the many other stakeholders, such as coastal
communities, resource users, governmental agencies and private sector groups, that share
an interest in the Bay and its resources. Thus was initiated the idea for the Bay of Fundy
Ecosystem Partnership. Its inaugural meeting was held at St. Andrews in November,
1997 in conjunction with a joint meeting of the Ecological Assessment and Monitoring
Network (EMAN) and FMESP's second scientific meeting on the Bay.
BoFEP is conceived as an inclusive, flexible and multidimensional organisation for
encouraging communication and co-operation among all Fundy stakeholders. Established
as a "Virtual Institute", with no bricks and mortar, its objective is to foster
wise conservation and management of the Bay's resources and habitats, by disseminating
information, monitoring the state of the ecosystem and encouraging co-operative activities
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Specific research projects, conservation activities and other initiatives of the Institute
are undertaken by multidisciplinary Working Groups constituted as needed from among the
membership. Timely information exchange among the diverse and widely dispersed members of
the Institute will be mediated by a comprehensive Web Site readily accessible to both
members and the general public.
Membership in BoFEP is open to all interested citizens who share the general Vision,
including community groups, resource harvesters, scientists, resource managers, coastal
zone planners, businesses, government agencies, industries, shipping interests and
academic institutions.Additional information
regarding the origin and evolution of BoFEP is contained in Fundy Issue # 1 (revised)
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