Bay of Fundy

Ecology & Conservation

The upper Bay of Fundy (Chignecto Bay and Minas Basin) is critical to migratory shorebirds, particularly for the Semipalmated Sandpiper over a six-week period in late July and August. Chignecto Bay and the Southern Bight, Minas Basin, are critical habitats to migratory shorebirds and those areas have been recognized internationally as Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserves, Ramsar sites, or Wetlands of International Importance (1986), provincial Conservation Areas (Nova Scotia) and National Wildlife Areas (Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada). The Nature Conservancy of Canada has played a vital role in protecting shorebird roosting beaches throughout the 1980s and 1990s as well as creating Shorebird Interpretation Centers in both New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to educate the general public about shorebird conservation and did so in close collaboration with those provinces.

Furthermore, portions of coastlines in both provinces are listed as IBAs (Important Bird Areas). Since their re-introduction to the Bay of Fundy by Environment Canada in the mid-1980s, the Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus has returned as a breeding species in the Bay of Fundy and has re-established itself as a viable population in the Fundy ecosystem as was the case prior to the widespread uses of DDT in the post-war years.

With the increasing popularity of ecotourism, an increasing number of visitors from around the world come to the shores of the Bay of Fundy to view its great tides, extensive mudflats at low tide and, especially, the large flocks of migrant shorebirds during the high tide periods. But with regard to accommodations for these visitors on the beaches of the bay, especially with respect to shorebirds, there is insufficient infrastructure in place to minimize disturbance to roosting shorebirds during high tide periods and maximize education to potential to visitors. Much work remains to be done between federal, provincial and municipal governments and the private sector to create functional interpretation and education centers in those portions of the Bay of Fundy known to be of critical importance to migrant shorebirds and yet do so with minimal disturbance to the birds.

Cottage-building and the expansion of suburbs along coastal areas of the Bay of Fundy, and increasing human access to the shoreline (re: ATVs), continue to create difficult situations for migratory shorebirds which require undisturbed beaches to rest during high tide periods. Furthermore, toxic chemicals in the form of herbicides and pesticides which originate from farming activities along tidal rivers wash into these rivers and accumulate in intertidal areas and especially build up in the tissues of intertidal invertebrates (e.g. the burrowing amphipod Corophium volutator and the small clam Macoma balthica which are, in turn, ingested by sandpipers and plovers where these chemicals build up in their tissues with unknown consequences.

Habitat protection measures and status of conservation efforts

The creation of two Hemispheric Shorebird Reserves and listing critical shorebird intertidal areas as Ramsar sites do not offer legal habitat protection but they officially recognize portions of the Bay of Fundy as being critical to the conservation of migratory shorebirds thus recognizing the need for conservation activities in those portions of the bay. However, the purchasing of roosting beaches and marsh uplands by the Nature Conservancy of Canada, in close collaboration with the Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, has proven to be concrete conservation measure which will benefit migrant shorebirds for future generations.

Management activities and priorities

Securing pristine roosting and foraging habitats for shorebirds and eliminating, and/or controlling, toxic pollutants from tidal rivers which border the Bay of Fundy should become the primary conservation activities for NGOs and governments with respect to shorebirds in the Bay of Fundy. Continuing the monitoring of the numbers of shorebirds using important roosting beaches along the shores of the Bay of Fundy, by the provinces in collaboration with Environment Canada, will be the primary means by which the success of conservation efforts will be evaluated. However, a major management priority remains to minimize disturbance on those critical beaches and also educate the public about the critical value of conservation in order to ensure the well-being of these long-distance migrants.

Shorebird and related research

A long-term banding program is the best means by which the migrant sandpipers stopping-over in Fundy can be captured and weighed in order to ensure that the birds are depositing the necessary fat resources to successfully complete their southward migrations to Suriname and French Guyana. If not, this would suggest serious problems with the infauna of the mudflats with serious consequences to the birds. Furthermore, the morphometric measurements gathered in the course of a banding programwould assist us in determining which subpopulations (based on sanddpiper bill lengths) are most successful and which subpopulations might be declining. These data would allow conservation groups to know the geographical sources of potential problems and thus where conservation initiatives should be focused (specific breeding /staging/wintering areas).