Marine Planning in the outer Bay of Fundy

The government of Canada has joined a global initiative and set a goal of conserving 30% of our marine and coastal areas by 2030. This project aims to make sure that local perspectives and community knowledge are included and considered during marine planning efforts for the outer Bay of Fundy. The focus of this project extends from Musquash to Passamaquoddy Bay to Grand Manan Island.

Outreach

We’re thrilled to announce that our documentary is finished! Hands in the Current: Stories of Work, Water, and Home is a 20-minute film featuring people who live on, and work in, the coastal Bay of Fundy in Southwest New Brunswick. We’re bringing the show to you through your community tour this summer and fall. Screenings are free. We’d love to see you there! Check out our calendar for dates and details.

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MARINE PLANNING?

Check out these infographics we designed to explain the process and the objectives.

Data

We’re making an effort to aggregate data that isn’t already available to decision-makers and community researchers. Information like stories and observations from folks who have spent their lives on the Bay can be incredibly valuable. We’re mapping this information to make it more accessible. Some of the groups we have consulted with so far include: local divers, small-scale fisheries, academic institutions, ecotourism companies, the Huntsman Marine Science Centre, and others. We have also collected data from several different community and research databases including: iNaturalist, REEF.org, OCEARCH, and Whale Alert.

Low Intertidal Surveys

Our research team is surveying the intertidal zone to test out methods for assessing stocks and measuring changes of important species. This season, our focus is sea cucumbers, but we’ll count anything and everything that shows up in our survey! Check out the photos from those efforts, and more, below.

ECW would like to thank the Oceans Management Contribution Program, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) for their support for these initiatives.