Musquash Estuary is located on the Bay of Fundy, approximately 20 kilometres
southwest of the city of Saint John, New Brunswick. The Musquash ecosystem provides
a rich habitat for a variety of commercial and non-commercial fisheries and wildlife.
The Musquash Estuary is highly valued by local residents, government agencies, and
conservation organizations in the region.
The Musquash coastal area is unique among estuaries in the Bay of Fundy,
given its large size and relatively undisturbed condition. Studies have identified
it as one of the last ecologically intact estuaries in a region where most of
the original salt marshes have been modified by human activities. To this day,
the Musquash Estuary remains an area of high biological productivity with a
variety of coastal habitats, and is an outstanding example of a fully functioning
estuary and salt marsh complex.
Estuaries such as Musquash are found where freshwater rivers meet saltwater.
Conditions produced by tidal mixing support a large variety of species, making
estuaries among the most important and highly productive ecosystems in coastal
waters. However, many estuaries and salt marshes are being lost due to human
activities.
The Province of New Brunswick worked jointly with Fisheries and Oceans Canada
(DFO) to develop a framework to manage the estuary and salt marsh. Formal Marine
Protected Area (MPA) designation complements the substantial efforts already taken
by local conservation organizations to protect the coastal lands surrounding the
estuary, including initiatives by the Province of New Brunswick, the Nature Conservancy
of Canada, and local universities.
Musquash was originally proposed as an MPA in 1998 by the Conservation Council
of New Brunswick and the Fundy North Fishermen’s Association. On February 8, 2000,
DFO announced Musquash as an MPA Area of Interest under Canada’s Oceans Act.
The Musquash Estuary Advisory Committee, consisting of federal and provincial
agencies, First Nations organizations, industry, environmental organizations, and
community interests was established in 2002 to facilitate stakeholder dialogue and
action. The MPA is designed to protect the integrity of this ecosystem and maintain
natural biological diversity of the Musquash Estuary and the surrounding salt marshes
to ensure its long-term sustainable use.
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