Bay of Fundy

CPAWS is encouraging the federal government to speed up action on protecting our oceans. This includes adding new marine protected areas in the internationally important Bay of Fundy. We believe there is a need to ensure protection into the future for the values that were highlighted by the Bay of Fundy’s candidacy as one of the New 7 Natural Wonders of Nature.

The federal government made a commitment to establish a network of marine protected areas in Canada but so far, progress has been painfully slow. The government needs to speed up progress on marine protection if we are going to meet our international commitment to protect 10% of our coastal and marine resources by 2020.

As a step to meeting that goal, CPAWS has identified 12 marine areas that are excellent candidates for protection.  Many have long been proposed as protected areas, including in the Bay of Fundy.

The Bay of Fundy, located on the Atlantic coast between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Ocean, has the world's highest tides and an abundance of wildlife.  In 2011, the Bay of Fundy was 

Canada’s only candidate in the global campaign to declare the New 7 Natural Wonders of Nature.  Over 12 species of whales are drawn to the Bay’s rich upwelling zones, including humpback, fin and the endangered North Atlantic right whale.  Millions of shorebirds flock to the salt marshes and mudflats on the Bay of Fundy shores each year on their long migrations, to fatten up on mud shrimp.

The outer Bay is known for its incredible variety of bottom-dwelling species, from upright sponges,
anemones, and sea squirts to cold-water corals.  It is also home to large reefs formed by horse mussels.  Only a few horse mussel reefs are known to exist in the world and the Bay of Fundy reefs are the largest yet to be documented.  The corals and horse mussel reefs provide protection from currents and predators for thousands of species of fish and invertebrates.   This is critically important for protecting our haddock, winter flounder, lobster and herring fisheries.



The Bay is also becoming increasingly industrialized, with proposals for tidal turbines, large open-net salmon aquaculture sites, LNG terminals and coastal mega-quarries, threatening its ecological health before any marine protection measures have been implemented.


 

Take Action!

So far, over 13,000 people have signed the Dare to be Deep pledge to support advancing marine conservation in Canada.  Add your voice to help us reach our goal of establishing 12 new marine protected areas (including one for Bay of Fundy) and networks of marine protected areas in all of our oceans!  Sign on here.

If you've already signed on to help protect our oceans, write a letter now to tell governments that you want our oceans protected!

CPAWS New Brunswick is also working with CPAWS Nova Scotia on getting a marine protected area in the Bay of Fundy.  You can find their page here.