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Fishermen OK Musquash MPA

The Musquash Harbor and estuary on New Brunswick's Saint John River could be the first MPA created in the Gulf of Maine under Canada's new Oceans Act. A committee that includes the Fundy North Fishermen's Association (FNFA), the Conservation Council of New Brunswick (CCNB), federal and provincial departments, and other local groups has nominated the area ---- which the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-Canada describes as largely undeveloped and relatively unpolluted ---- for such designation.

In developing the proposal, the Conservation Council and the fishermen's association have agreed that scallop dragging would be allowed to continue within a "special scallop zone" at the mouth of Musquash Harbor, but that there would be no expansion of the scallop fishery within the MPA.

Greg Thompson, Secretary Treasurer of FNFA, said the Conservation Council proposed the idea at the association's annual meeting. CCNB explained the value of the saltmarsh to local fisheries as a nursery and food source, and expressed concern about the effects of potential development of heavy industry in the Port of Saint John.

"I think with the fishermen it is more an issue of, 'how is this going to affect me?'" said Thompson. "We didn't see [the proposal] was any harm to us. It could only help us if marshes are, in fact, the contributors to the marine ecology that is believed at the moment."