Musquash Estuary celebrates 10 years as protected area

Ten yearsago this month, a Bay of Fundysaltmarsh west of Saint John became the first federalmarine protected area in New Brunswick.

The Musquash Estuary is unique along the Fundy coast for being a pristine salt marsh system that supports a wide variety of plants,wildlife and commercialfisheries.

"Really it's the only fully intact, fully functioning estuary salt marsh system in the Bay of Fundy," said Matt Abbott, the Fundy Bay keeper for the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.

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An estuary is essentially a geographical zone wherefreshwater river ecosystemsand saltwater maritime ecosystems meet and mix.

"Estuaries are really, really important to the health of our coastal oceans, and even our deep oceans worldwide. They provide really important nursery habitat for young fish. They provide refuge to a whole host of animals," said Abbott.

The roadto declaring the estuary a protected area was a long one. First studies were done on the many estuaries in the Bay of Fundy. After identifying the estuary in Musquash as unique the Friends of Musquash worked with local fishermen to convince the federal government to declare the estuary a protected area, which they did in 2006.

"Musquash really serves as a great example of conservation groups, fisheries groups, governments [and] local communities coming together. We often have the same interests at heart, which is a really well functioning ecosystem," said Abbott.

Celebrations for the tenthanniversarykick off Fridaynight with an opening ceremony at the Musquash Fire Hall at 6pm, followed by a sunset hike at the estuary at 8 p.m. Events continue Saturday at 10a.m. with kayaking, hiking and a barbecue. Musquash is located 20 kilometres west of Saint John.