environment

Press Releases regarding Ombudsman Report on Water Classification

August 19, 2014

Ombudsman vindicates Nashwaak Watershed Association’s claims of government inaction on Water Classification program

Ombudsman concludes the Water Classification Regulation 2002-‐13, of the Clean Water Act “exists primarily as a mirage”

Fredericton ‐ Today, the Nashwaak Watershed Association (NWAI) responded to the “Report of the Ombudsman into the Department of Environment’s Management of the Provincial Water Classification Program”, released on Friday, August 15th by Ombudsman Charles Murray.

“We are both saddened and encouraged by the Ombudsman’s findings,” says Paul McLaughlin, President of the Nashwaak Watershed Association.

“Saddened because for more than ten years now, we have been working, largely as volunteers and in good faith with the Department of Environment, to see enacted the protections afforded under the Clean Water Act, and we have been stalled in our efforts by the inaction, indecision and neglect by our provincial government.”

Read/View/Download Full Press Releases
Press Release_August 2014 water classification [English, .pdf]
Com Presse classification eaux aout 2014 [Francais, pdf]

Family Wildlife Watch and Photo Contest

September 10, 2013

Join us for a Family Wildlife Walk and Photo Contest!

On Saturday September 14th from 1pm to 3:30pm we’re hosting a Family Wildlife Watch and Photo Contest to raise awareness of the Nashwaak Greenway project. This event will bring local families to the greenway area so that they can learn about the plants and animals living in this wild space so close to home. We’ll have wildlife experts on hand to guide groups into different environments such as forests, ponds, marshes, and the river bed. People will be able to look at, listen to, and feel the life of a floodplain forest. At the end, we’ll have participants send us one photo entry each and we’ll declare the winner at our Greenway Celebration event on September 28th.

The event will begin at the Marysville Heritage Centre, 11 McGloin St, Marysville at 1pm, and we’ll return to this site around 3:00pm.

To sign up RSVP greenway@ns4.ibsltd.ca or phone 999-2163

Dismal Salmon Returns to the Nashwaak in 2012

December 3, 2012

As you inspect the grilse (1 sea winter fish) returns on the DFO web site you will see that grilse numbers were as low as 25% of 2004-2008 averages in many NB rivers, and this suggests that conditions were quite harsh (cold) in the Labrador Sea feeding grounds last winter.

While the marine environment was hard on fish from other NB rivers, the severity of the population decrease in the Saint John system was away out of proportion to that in other rivers with grilse numbers being 7% at Mactaquac and 4% on the Nashwaak of 2004- 2008 averages.

The crash of populations in the Saint John system in the mid 1990s was also much more severe than the declines experienced in the other NB rivers, and that “more severe decline” corresponded with the rapid rise of sea lice populations generated in Bay of Fundy salmon farms. [Read more…]