Sanctuary for Musquash

By Hilton, Carol

PROTECTED AREAS It could have been the site of a coal port, a steel mill or even a dock for a liquid natural gas terminal, but New Brunswick’s Musquash Estuary is now protected in perpetuity as Canada’s sixth – and newest – Marine Protected Area (MPA).

In the late 1990s, studies revealed that Musquash was the only significant estuary in the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine unspoiled by contamination and industrial development.

“In its 12-kilometre length, the estuary has every kind of habitat and almost every species that is in the Bay of Hundy at some point during the year,” says David Thompson of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick (CCNB), which campaigned for eight years to secure MPA status for the area 20 kilometres west of Saint John. Musquash includes a large salt marsh, tidal mud flats, sandy beaches and rocky cliffs buffeted by ocean waves and provides important breeding areas for shorebirds and spawning habitat for many fish species.

Designated under Canada’s Oceans Act to protect endangered marine species and important marine habitats, MPAs have now been established in each Atlantic province and British Columbia.

Thompson says the process was helped along by the fact that CCNB conducted its own environmental studies and won the support of local stakeholders, including the Fundy North Fishermen’s Association.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada has also secured protection from development for more than 12 square kilometres of uplands surrounding the estuary.

Carol Hilton

The meandering Musquash River is now part of a Marine Protected Area.

Copyright Canadian Geographic Enterprises May/Jun 2007

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