The upper portion of the Bay of Fundy is a unique geographic region where natural conditions such as the highest and lowest tides in the world, strong tidal currents and sedimentation, and often poor weather, limit small-scale fishermen in their harvesting activities.  However, such fisheries are still one of the principal elements of local community economies. In recent years, larger vessels from the deeper, more open waters of the Bay have followed and harvested fish stocks as they migrate into the Upper Bay, in competition with smaller vessels from the ports adjacent to the Upper Bay.  This more flexible and powerful fishing pressure, added to the local community fishery, has significantly reduced Upper Bay fish stocks and their availability to local economies.  In addition, the effects of local recreational marine fisheries, (e.g. for dulse, clams, striped bass and flounder), and other existing and potential marine activities (e.g. bloodworm harvesting, extraction of titanium, and aggregate) and the impact of many land-based activities, are poorly known.

The management of these fisheries and other activities is obviously neither ecosystem-based, nor integrated within local economies, both of which are mandated under the recent federal Oceans Act.  Lack of experience in Canada with ecosystem- and community-based management of fisheries resources is a significant impediment to their development, and therefore to the nation’s ability to meet the objectives of the Oceans Act.  It has therefore seemed prudent to develop pilot projects that would allow demonstration and exploration of the principles and practices of community-based integrated resource management. Because of its geographic circumscription, its specialised fisheries resources, and the importance of those resources to local communities — coupled with the general failure of traditional management approaches to protect these resources — the Upper Bay of Fundy represented an ideal site for such a pilot project.

For this reason, Upper Bay of Fundy fishermen and communities alike have come together to request from DFO the right and responsibility to develop community- and ecosystem-based fisheries management for resources in the Upper Bay of Fundy. An initial proposal submitted to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans in 2002 received approval in principle, but lack of funds prevented its initiation. A subsequent proposal, supported by fisheries organizations and communities in the area, was submitted to the EJLB Foundation in February 2004 by a consortium including the Upper Bay Marine Resource Centre, the Acadia Centre for Estuarine Research, and the Bay of Fundy Ecosystem Partnership. Funds were provided for the initial year.

This report represents a summary of actions and achievements during 2004-2005. it consists of two parts:

A.     A Portrait of the Fisheries in the Upper Bay of Fundy, based on a report prepared by Christie Dyer;

B. A Report on an Experimental Fisheries Survey conducted in the Minas Basin and Scots Bay region from June to October 2004, prepared by Sierra Wehrell.