Environmental groups look for research proposal of Northumberland Strait

Environmental groups look for research proposal of Northumberland Strait

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Two environmental organizations are looking for research proposals on estuaries in the Northumberland Strait.

The Canadian Water Network and the Northumberland Strait-Environmental Monitoring Partnership, a group of organizations already monitoring other parts of the Northumberland Strait, is aiming to get researchers monitoring the cumulative effects, such as sentiments, nutrients and contaminants, man-made activities have had on wildlife, such as fish, invertebrates and water vegetation, and the body of water in areas where the ocean and river meet along the Northumberland Strait.

The Canadian Water Network are looking for proposals for those interested in research, preferably Universities or those associated with Universities, to provide up to a three-year grant. Simon Courtenay, a University of New Brunswick Biology professor and leader of the program, will collect the research for a database for study.

The research will be brought before the Maritimes Regional Committee on Coastal and Ocean Management, made up of provincial and federal government representatives from around the Maritimes, where they will use the research to make decisions on where to proceed.

The deadline for proposals is September 14 and the research period will begin in April 2012 to March 2015.

Three other projects were approved by the Canadian Water Network in Manitoba and two in Ontario.

They are hoping to be able, at the end of the research, to have established a regional monitoring network, which will be able to use fish, plants and wildlife in the area to be able to determine the quality of the Strait or estuary.

Courtenay said he believes the research is important because of the reliance a lot of Maritime industries have in these estuaries and the Strait itself.

“We all benefit from the fisheries, which many depend on the estuaries, tourism depends on the estuaries, our recreation depends on the estuaries, so we’re all very dependent both economically and for quality of life, on the estuaries. They’re a very big part of what we do in the Maritimes.”

He said in a 2006 stake holders consultation by the Department of Oceans and Fisheries people showed a growing concern with the Northumberland Strait.

“People felt that things were changing, in terms of the resources, like the fishery resources whether it be lobster or herring or scallops but also the quality of the environment in the Strait,” he said. “So there was a real concern things were changing and not in a good way.”

One of the concerns they are looking into would be a decline in eel grass in the estuaries, said Courtenay.

“We’re seeing more blooms of Sea Lettuce, the Ulva, which is an opportunistic annual algae that comes in and grows very, very rapidly and then as it dies it breaks down and uses up all the oxygen in the water,” he said. “These are the kinds of things people are seeing and are very concerned about.”