President, Scott Beaver pictured with his family
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President's Messages
2025 2025 brings us into a new era! Let me explain… On November 2nd, 2024, the St. Mary’s River became Canada’s very first candidate Ecologically Significant Area (ESA)! Although only a candidate at this point, just becoming a candidate is an extremely noteworthy accomplishment. Our river is Canada’s first attempt at protecting freshwater anywhere in the country. ESAs will be regulated under the Fisheries act, and I can’t find anything similar in any jurisdiction on the planet. Its important to note right out of the gate ESAs are not intended to regulate fishing, because they are part of the Fish and Fish Habitat Protection Provisions of the Fisheries Act, which are focused on regulating projects and NOT fishing. A designation will help protect angling opportunities and potentially significantly enhance opportunities. The legislation aims to protect fish and fish habitat so one can conclude that a designation will significantly reduce industry’s ability to release deleterious substances into the watershed. Mining being one of the worlds top water polluters would not be permitted to release effluent anywhere into the St. Mary’s River drainage basin. Sure, sounds nice to me! Next steps will see municipalities in the watershed, Mi’kmaw, our province, nonprofits and all stake holders working with the federal fisheries department identifying our conservation priorities and objectives. Basically, taking the next two to six years looking at how we maintain ecosystem integrity and still thrive as humans coexisting with our natural world. |
I applaud the Harper government of 2012 for creating ESAs having the foresight to identify water as one of our future’s greatest resources. Some places should be protected with greater scrutiny than others because of their ecological integrity. I am excited to be a part of creating Canada’s first Ecologically Significant Area and I truly believe we can protect our freshwater while building a strong intertwined niche economy within.
Next, I’ll talk a little about our Aquatic Ecosystems Restoration Fund. If you recall we received a 1.75-million-dollar grant from the federal government for a four-year habitat restoration project. Building on what we have already spent over the last 10 years now puts us just over 4 million in total. 2024’s totals in terms of restoration area were a great success with 45,000 square meters of restored river!
During our 2024 season our habitat restoration team replaced a culvert, which was a barrier for salmon, with a new bridge on our East branch. This opened up another 5km of salmon spawning habitat. Charlie and his team also completed habitat restoration work in this area too. During the 2024 Fall Redd counts our team spotted quite a few salmon nests above the new bridge during early November which was a great sign!
A large concrete structure just up from the Waternish bridge skirting Hattie Road was removed this season as well. This structure was installed years ago by the federal government used as an anchoring structure for counting salmon efforts. Over the years this area of the river has widened out and shallowed tremendously. With new rock structures this spring fed area should significantly improve spawning habitat.
2025, year three habitat restoration work will see our first partnership with Nova Scotia Nature Trust in terms of habitat work on some of their properties. We are excited to tackle an important and degrading section of river between Harrison’s pool and the West River bridge pool. This will be 2025’s biggest project and probably will be our most exposed to the public project to date. Don’t worry we are working with the federal government on this, and we do have all necessary permitting in place along with Atlantic Canada’s most prolific restoration team!
Oh yes one more thing…
I would like to highlight a $25,000 grant we received with matching funding for St. Mary’s Rivers very first official Wood turtle monitory program. Some Wood Turtle studies have been completed over the years, but we have never attempted to start what we hope will be an annual Wood turtle monitory program. Exciting!
Next, I’ll talk a little about our Aquatic Ecosystems Restoration Fund. If you recall we received a 1.75-million-dollar grant from the federal government for a four-year habitat restoration project. Building on what we have already spent over the last 10 years now puts us just over 4 million in total. 2024’s totals in terms of restoration area were a great success with 45,000 square meters of restored river!
During our 2024 season our habitat restoration team replaced a culvert, which was a barrier for salmon, with a new bridge on our East branch. This opened up another 5km of salmon spawning habitat. Charlie and his team also completed habitat restoration work in this area too. During the 2024 Fall Redd counts our team spotted quite a few salmon nests above the new bridge during early November which was a great sign!
A large concrete structure just up from the Waternish bridge skirting Hattie Road was removed this season as well. This structure was installed years ago by the federal government used as an anchoring structure for counting salmon efforts. Over the years this area of the river has widened out and shallowed tremendously. With new rock structures this spring fed area should significantly improve spawning habitat.
2025, year three habitat restoration work will see our first partnership with Nova Scotia Nature Trust in terms of habitat work on some of their properties. We are excited to tackle an important and degrading section of river between Harrison’s pool and the West River bridge pool. This will be 2025’s biggest project and probably will be our most exposed to the public project to date. Don’t worry we are working with the federal government on this, and we do have all necessary permitting in place along with Atlantic Canada’s most prolific restoration team!
Oh yes one more thing…
I would like to highlight a $25,000 grant we received with matching funding for St. Mary’s Rivers very first official Wood turtle monitory program. Some Wood Turtle studies have been completed over the years, but we have never attempted to start what we hope will be an annual Wood turtle monitory program. Exciting!
Scott receiving his Lt. Governor's Award for Conservation during the 2024 annual banquet for the Atlantic Salmon Federation and Nova Scotia Salmon Association