Guest contribution from: SEASCAPES – Spring 2010
By Art MacKay
Hopefully the Bay of Fundy will soon become one of the acknowledged “Seven Wonders of the Natural World,” a title that it truly deserves as one of the most unique ecosystems on the planet. But the future of the Bay, the thousands of marine species that occur here, and the important eco-economy that it supports remains in doubt as Fundy continues to see the development of “Superport Fundy.”
MINKE WHALE BY LAURIE MURISON
It seems like a blink of time since I started my official career here 46 years ago at my little home corner of this world in the Passamaquoddy area, a place that literally teemed with life along all of its shores and rivers. During that time, I have watched important forage species and the dependent invertebrates, fish, birds, and mammals pushed away from the near-shore by continued and growing pollution and, throughout the Bay, larger species such as the whales continue to compete with growing numbers of ships that feed the port of Saint John while coastal quarries and other developments are an ongoing threat along all of the shores. Others continue to push for heavy industrial development in inappropriate places and it remains to be seen just what the impacts of tidal energy developments will be.
While the Bay of Fundy remains a phenomenal place, there are many areas requiring TLC. Every year, the battle to conserve this important resource becomes more and more balanced as people of conscience, companies like Seascape Kayak Tours in addition to other world-class organizations become focused on protection and restoration in the Bay of Fundy.
Art MacKay, publisher of the popular site I Love Quoddy Wild, is a freelance biologist who has been a teacher, researcher, publisher, consultant, and environmentalist in marine biology and related fields in five countries over the span of nearly 50 years. Read more about Art and the Bay of Fundy. Vote for the Bay of Fundy to be recognized as one of the New 7 Wonders.
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