Broken brooks: Increasing access and improving habitat for inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon through environmental stewardship and innovative restoration techniques

The PWA has spent the last five years conducting culvert assessments in the Petitcodiac watershed and has determined that over half of the culverts assessed are barriers to fish passage. This results in restricted access to hundreds of kilometers of aquatic habitat. In 2020, the PWA will begin conducting habitat assessments of the watershed’s rivers and tributaries in order to not only better prioritize sites in need of restoration, but also expand our restoration efforts beyond watercourse crossings. Furthermore, we will improve salmon habitat at up to four sites using our various restoration techniques. We will contract a local metal fabrication company for the construction of remedial structures (i.e. outflow chutes). Finally, the PWA will continue to collect aquatic connectivity data at watercourse-crossing sites each year in our watershed and promote our citizen science culvert assessment protocol to expand Atlantic salmon recovery efforts in the Bay of Fundy.

Contact: Lindsay Gauvin, 506-384-3369, executivedirector@petitcodiacwatershed.org