Half-a-century ago, this watercourse was more than a kilometer
wide. The famous tidal bore came in twice a day at more than a
meter high. The Petitcodiac was home to dozens of fish species,
including gaspereaux, Atlantic salmon, shad, sea trout, blueback
herring, tomcod, striped bass, smelt, eel, and sturgeon, among
others. It supported a recreational and commercial fishery worth
millions of dollars a year [in 2006 dollars] to the local economy.
That's to say nothing of tourism.
Today, thanks to the 1.5-kilometre causeway built in 1968 to
speed rush-hour traffic between Moncton and its bedroom community
of Riverview, the Petitcodiac River is a mere brown shadow of it's
former self. Within three years of its opening, the first signs of
trouble emerged.
Prior to 1968, annual salmon runs on the river averaged 2,000 or
3,000. Yearly runs of shad numbered 50,000 to 75,000. In 1972,
however, only 468 adult salmon entered the stream. In that same
year, only 19 shad were counted.
The Petitcodiac causeway is also responsible for the buildup of
massive silt deposits downstream from the structure, reducing the
width of the Petitcodiac River from an average of 1 km in 1968 to a
mere 100 m currently at the Moncton level. The causeway continues
to be responsible for the ongoing buildup of massive deposits of
silt reaching as far as 35 km downstream to Shepody Bay. The
Petitcodiac has now acquired the unfortunate distinction of being
one of the few rivers in North America where you can see man’s
destructive influence from space.
The Petitcodiac causeway has further caused the near elimination
of the once world-renowned Petitcodiac River tidal bore, formerly
Canada’s most spectacular tidal bore and one of Atlantic Canada’s
top tourist attractions. Once the pride of Moncton’s tourism
industry, the Petitcodiac River tidal bore has become an
embarrassment for local tourism operators, as well as the focus of
ridicule by visitors and local residents.
Meanwhile, conditions below the causeway were deteriorating
faster than residents might have feared (had most, in fact, given
the matter much thought). Heavy siltation was destroying marine
habitats in steady succession. By the mid-1970s, migratory stocks
of gaspereaux, smelt, shad, striped bass and tomcod once caught by
the ton had all but vanished. With them went the livelihoods of men
and women whose families had, for generations, depended on the
river's bounty. The degradation was so serious that between 1976
and 1979 federal fisheries officers compiled no fewer than a dozen
reports detailing failure after failure in the design, construction
and operation of the causeway's sluice gates and fishway. By the
turn of the decade, the consensus, at least among government
scientists and engineers, was that the entire apparatus should be
removed.
Notwithstanding all this, in the meantime the Marshlands along
the sides of the now reduced Petitcodiac, have become a viable
marshlands habitat in themselves. The marshlands are flush with
bird and animal life, and are now a major stop for the Canada Goose
migration.
This earthcache will take you along the marshland edge. Along
the way, it is a virtual guarantee that you will witness the bird
and animal life living here.
In order to log this earthcache, please do the
following:
1. Two waypoints are given for plaques
along the trail. Read these plaques and email me the names of the
named marshland inhabitants.
2. Estimate the percentage of the area
that was once the Petitcodiac River, that is now marshland, and
email me your estimate.
3. Post a picture of you and/or your GPSr
at the posted coordinates with the marshland in the background.
...logs that do not fulfill
these requirements will be deleted...
