Vol. 4, No. 2 Contents
Headline Back Issues
Spring 2000
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Lifelong conservationist from Nova Scotia is smitten with salmonBy Suzy Fried, Editor
Since the 1980s, Mott has worked to develop and implement conservation programs designed to restore and protect freshwater fish habitat. She has served as President of the Nova Scotia Salmon Association (NSSA), which works to promote salmon conservation in that province, and and as Vice-Chair of the Canadian Board of Directors of the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF), which works in Canada and the US. In April, in recognition of her years of dedication to salmon conservation, Mott received the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Conservation, bestowed annually by the Queen's representative to the province. Mott "is a formidable force speaking on behalf of conservation," says Murray Hill, Director of Inland Fisheries in the province's Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture. Hill frequently crosses paths with Mott, and credits her with a talent for "talking agencies into undertaking and supporting programs," and an ability to open others to her views while remaining respectful of their opinions. "She has an amazing talent to deal with everyone in Canada - from the Prime Minister to a farmer who has a field bordering on a stream," observes Hill. Raised on conservationMott's interest in the environment emerged during her childhood in northern New Brunswick, coaxed by her father, Bill, a river pilot and avid outdoorsman. "I spent a lot of time just hanging out with him," she recalls, adding that both he and his sister, affectionately known as "Tib," were "very, very strong environmentalists. I guess that's where I learned respect for nature." Mott's children have appreciated - though not always shared - her fanaticism for fishing. Her four sons were more interested in the boisterous business of catching frogs when they were young. "We would all go to a river and I would try to get rid of them because they were too noisy." Now grown, they "all have a healthy respect for the outdoors and really like it, but none of them fish," she says. But she does see a budding kindred spirit in her five-year old granddaughter and namesake, Kate, who visits from Ontario during the summers. "She's going to be just as addicted as I am," predicts Mott, who is saving her extra fishing gear for the young angler-to-be. Mott's own concern for salmon developed during childhood fishing trips. "Before it became de rigueur to release fish, I had had enough of hooking and killing fish and began releasing them early on." But she did not officially begin her salmon conservation work until after she married and moved to Nova Scotia, where she joined the NSSA. She became president of the organization in the mid 1980s. Emphasis on educationNow semi-retired, Mott says experiences as an educator at Dalhousie University in Halifax, and running her own consulting company, have colored her approach to her volunteer endeavors at NSSA and ASF. Several of her most successful projects involve cultivating peoples' awareness not only of conservation issues, but also of their communities and of their own potential. Among the numerous salmon conservation efforts in which Mott was involved during her tenure at NSSA, she describes a favorite as one that helped not only salmon, but people as well. As part of the Cumberland County River Enhancement Project, teams of workers that included criminal offenders and chronically underemployed individuals helped restore structural features to streams to help the fish survive. Mott says some of the participants in that program have since pursued careers as technicians or biologists. NSSA also developed a local organization that continues to sustain that restoration work. Another program particularly close to Mott's heart is one she developed as a member of ASF's board of directors, a position that she came to through her presidency of NSSA. "Partners in Conservation" cultivated an unprecedented, cooperative, respectful partnership between ASF and First Nations in addressing salmon conservation efforts. "A very rewarding experience," says Mott.
Her emphasis on the connections between education, community, and conservation have also shaped other projects Mott has helped develop with NSSA and ASF. Mott initiated an NSSA scholarship program to support academic study and community conservation work. Under NSSA's Adopt-a-Stream program, communities work with support from the federal and provincial governments to improve aquatic fish and wildlife habitat. NSSA's River Watch volunteer monitoring program helps communities evaluate and address the needs of their rivers using a manual that covers river biology, legal issues, and methods for communicating with landowners in a non-confrontational way. Mott trained participants in about a dozen communities to implement River Watch, and those volunteers have since trained others. In elementary schools in the US and Canada, ASF's federally assisted Fish Friends educational program involves the children in raising and releasing salmon and other species as they learn about aquatic habitat. During her tenure at NSSA, Mott also devoted much of her attention to acid rain - produced by US and Canadian industrial combustion emissions - and its effects on freshwater fish habitats. NSSA tried unsuccessfully to lower acidity in some rivers and lakes, but, Mott says,"With our constant haranguing, there is much greater awareness" of the problem, even though it remains to be solved. Shifting currentsAfter 15 years with ASF, Mott is retiring as an active director, saying "I think it's time that other voices were heard." Even so, as an honorary director, she stays involved in the group's work. "I guess I play the role of an elder now. I'm there for advice - a shoulder to cry on." Meanwhile, she is immersing herself more than ever in NSSA's salmon conservation efforts, particularly those near her home in Stewiacke, a town situated about 19 miles/30 kilometers south of Truro and named for a tributary of the Shubenacadie River. "I want to spend more time on matters related specifically to Nova Scotia because our situation here is in such dire straits. We need to know much more than we do about those factors causing difficulties for fish here." Like many leaders in conservation, Mott's view of the future includes measures of hope and of worry. The very existence of the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Conservation "shows that at the highest level, people appreciate that conservation is required and they value it," she says. Nevertheless, she would like to see more public involvement in and support for conservation as coming generations search for answers to the environmental dilemmas created before they were born. "I hope they'll continue the work that we start, and I hope they'll see more fish coming back and that they know then how to protect those fish." She observes, "Whatever happens in the water, be it fresh or salt, ultimately is going to happen to us on land. If we're producing a poisonous environment in the water, it will be recirculated on land. I hope we learn our lessons before it's too late." For more information on Fish FriendsVisit www.fishfriends.net
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Stewiacke,
Nova Scotia - "There aren't any salmon left in the rivers of the
inner Bay of Fundy," declares Katharine Mott, adding that other fish
populations have declined as well. The Stewiacke River, just outside of her
home, once had an annual run of about 5,000 fish. "Last year they
counted one. So whatever we're doing to our water - whatever is happening to
the water - it is not a healthy environment for our aquatic life." 