7^th Workshop a Great Success - Almost 160 researchers, representatives of community groups and businesses, environmental managers and interested citizens from around the Bay of Fundy gathered at the Algonquin Hotel in St. Andrews by the Sea on October 25-27, 2006. They were there to participate in the 7^th biennial Bay of Fundy Science Workshop. These popular workshops are sponsored by the Bay of Fundy Ecosystem Partnership (BoFEP). The Huntsman Marine Science Centre in St. Andrews hosted and organized this year's event.

The theme of the Workshop was "Challenges in Environmental Management in the Bay of Fundy - Gulf of Maine". Dr. Gerhard Pohle, Chair of the Workshop, explained that "the inclusion of the Gulf of Maine is deliberate, as the Bay of Fundy is a complex and interlinked component, with both bodies of water facing similar environmental challenges". Thus, several scientists from the northeastern US also participated actively in the workshop.

To kick-start each day of the workshop and get participants thinking, an opening plenary presentation summarized particular aspects of Bay of Fundy science. On the first morning, Fred Page from the St. Andrews Biological Station discussed some of the problems in managing the environment and resources of the Bay raised by the fact that the Bay's physical environment is constantly changing. Some of these changes involve shorter or longer-term cycles, while others, such as sea level rise and climate change are general long-term trends. On the second morning, Graham Daborn, Director of the Arthur Irving academy for the Environment at Acadia University, invoked the image of the Greek Mythical figure Penelope to describe the progress over the years in trying to understand the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine ecosystems. Penelope, during the absence of her husband, warded off legions of unwelcome suitors by promising to choose one of them as soon as she finished knitting a shroud for her father-in-law. However, every night she unraveled all the work that she had completed during the day, thus putting off the decision until her husband returned and slew the importunate suitors. The myth has become an enduring symbol of a work never completed, but always in hand. Daborn likened the science of the Bay to this unfinished shroud…… every now and then new threads of knowledge force scientists to unravel the models that they have carefully woven to explain how parts of the Bay work and then rework them to reflect the new understanding.

However, the real "red meat" of the workshop were the over 80 scientific papers and posters presented in 13 different sessions. These were devoted to subjects such as salt marshes, sea birds, climate change, biodiversity, fish ecology, resource management, seafloor mapping and environmental monitoring to name but a few.

All these papers and posters also provided abundant background information for the final wrap-up session on the last day of the workshop. After a stimulating presentation by John Coon of the University of New Hampshire entitled "Can we get there from here? Ecosystem-based governance in the Gulf of Maine", participants enthusiastically discussed ways that people living and working in the region can play a greater role in keeping the Bay healthy and productive.

Susan Rolston, Peter Wells and other members of the editorial team are now working hard to have the Proceedings of the Workshop ready for distribution as early in 2007 as possible.

Congratulations to Gerhard Pohle, Lou VanGuelpen, Rebecca Milne and others at the Huntsman Marine Science Centre, the Atlantic Reference Centre and the members of the program committee for doing such a superb job in organizing this very successful event.

Peter G. Wells
 Environment Canada (retired)

At the workshop Banquet, Dr. Peter Wells, recently retired from Environment Canada in Dartmouth, NS, was presented with the BoFEP "Environmental Stewardship Award" for 2006. The Bay of Fundy Ecosystem Partnership (BoFEP) created this award to recognize the significant efforts of individual citizens toward the environmental stewardship of the Bay of Fundy. The first of these awards was presented in 2004 at the 6^th Bay of Fundy Workshop held at the Annapolis Basin Conference Centre, Cornwallis Park, Nova Scotia. This award is presented to "an individual who has contributed significantly to the environmental health/sustainability of the Bay of Fundy — preferably someone best described as an 'unsung hero', who has not been in the limelight, but has laboured behind the scenes in advancing the Mission and promoting the Principles of BoFEP".
Peter has been a driving force behind many of BoFEP's science-oriented activities, particularly the biennial workshops, technical reports and the activities of several of the working groups. He has been untiring as an editor of, and contributor to, all of the Workshop Proceedings. Congratulations Peter on this well-deserved award and thanks for all the energy, enthusiasm and support you have given to BoFEP ever since its inception.