Good news this week on the tidal energy front:
The Nova Scotia government is investing $250,000 to research tidal power. The funds will be given to the Offshore Energy and Environmental Research Association to do a Bay of Fundy tidal power environmental impact assessment.
Am I crazy or has anyone else noticed that 'green is keen' all of a sudden?
See previous Bay of Fundy tidal energy posts: in-stream turbine photo #1, photo #2, map of Minas Channel.
It's easy to love the Bay of Fundy in spring, summer and fall with all the sea-sky blues & greens and cliffscape cobalts & terra cottas. But in winter the tone of everything changes...really rather enchanting once you get used to walking around inside sepia photos! Here is a rare image of the 'famous' Hopewell Rocks in winter: strong, dramatic yet somehow peaceful. Thanks to Rocks staff Francine LeBlanc for sending along this stunning image.
Links to some of my earlier Fundy winter pics: Icecakes & Oatcakes, Winter Arrives on the Bay of Fundy
If you confess to buying wine by the label (as I shamefully admit I do) you will also be enticed by the Grand Pre Winery's gorgeous wine bottle works of art (many available poster-size in the wine shops). Here is their New York Muscat icewine label and description.
New York Muscat Icewine
This Icewine has been left to ferment in cask, producing a complex and layered wine. It displays rich notes of papaya, preserved peach, dried apricot and Bartlett pear, in perfect balance with a crisp lively acidity that lingers on the palette. Enjoy these great flavours on their own or to compliment dessert and cheese.
This wine has won gold as well as bronze at Canadian and International Wine Competitions, as well as platinum provincially.
The Grand Pre Winery Estate is open yearround in Grand Pre, near Wolfville, on the Nova Scotia side of the Bay of Fundy.
No, I am not offering free Grand Pre Winery samples here on my blog but rather a free view of their sample Vidal Icewine label, as well as its description:
This Vidal Icewine was hand picked at the end of the old and the beginning of the new millennium. It displays notes of apricots, lemon, blood orange and marmalade. It is balanced with crisp acidity and a long, lingering, sweet finish. Sip this rare treat by itself or as a sweet compliment to a dessert. (Bronze medal winner at 2001 All-Canadian Wine Championships. Bronze medal winner at 2001 Canadian Wine Awards).
The Winery is open year round and offers wine tastings in the wine shop as well as fine Northern European cuisine in their restaurant, Le Cave.
Did you know that some of Canada's best ice wines come from Domaine de Grand Pre Winery here on the Bay of Fundy? Although originally invented in Germany (eiswein), Canada is now known to have the most famous (and expensive!) ice wines.
Icewine is a type of dessert wine produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. The sugars and other dissolved solids do not freeze, but the water does, so the result is a concentrated, often very sweet but refreshing wine.
Because of high sugar levels it may take months to complete the fermentation (compared to days or weeks for regular wines). This, combined with lower yield and difficulty of processing, results in ice wines being more expensive than other wines.
So, not only can you enjoy the viewscapes around the Bay of Fundy, but you can enjoy such interesting tastes of our region as well - year round!
Whoops, how rude of me, I forgot to include a sample of Mary's fine work in that post earlier today. With permission, here is Parrsboro Lobster Boat.
Says Mary: I sat on the sand at low tide and painted this lobster boat waiting for the tide to come in. The landscape is a stunning contrast of reds and purples in the mud and rocks and deep blues to Carribean-like teal greens in the water. Enormous craggy cliffs rise hundreds of feet along the shore conjuring dramatic paintings every where the eye looks. The light is shimmery, like island light and the mornings are frequently foggy, even as the sun tries to break through.
I can't think of a better way to enjoy a few hours here on the Bay of Fundy with eyes wide open! Terri
Just received this interesting note from painter, Mary Sheehan Winn, who lives in New England but has an interesting Bay of Fundy connection:
Hi Terri, small world...I was cruising the blogosphere and came to your blog through the artist Nita Leger Casey. I was sure I recognized the Parrsboro Lighthouse in your photo. My husband's family was from the area and each summer we vacation in a cottage on the Bay there. I have hundreds of photos of your area which I feel is the best place my husband has ever shared with me. I also adore Parrsboro's Main St. gallery: The Destination Gallery, probably the most beautiful gallery I've ever seen. I'm sure I'll be back to read your blog many times before coming to Parrsboro in person in June. ~ Mary
Yes, Mary, I do actually live in Parrsboro but I love the whole big beautiful Bay of Fundy! I have the dream job of working with the tourism industry to share it more meaningfully with the world ~ lucky me! See you around town. Terri
Historic sardine vessel, the Bernadine will take on a new life this summer as floating Bay of Fundy promoter.
She'll be plying the waters of the St Lawrence River, summering in ports from Quebec City to the shores of the Great Lakes. The Bernadine (built orginally in Black's Harbour, New Brunswick in 1942) measures 85 ft stem to stern and is one of the oldest working wooden boats still sailing North American waters.
Skipper Charles Creaser describes some of the vessel's restoration work leading up to the trip:
Up on deck, the front of the wheelhouse was removed, and a new extension built on. The whole wheelhouse interior has been lined with N.B. cedar. Necessary repairs and painting of the deck, and new navigational equipment makes the boat a real show piece, both aesthetically to the casual observer, and to the knowledgable boatman. It has a custom made, user-friendly gang plank, built by the craftmen at Comeau Marine Railway on the other side of the Bay of Fundy in Meteghan, N.S. where all of the repairs were completed.
For more info on the Bernadine's awesome adventure (or to find out how to promote your Fundy business on board) email Charles: charleswymancreaser@hotmail.com. Imagine this delightful floating Bay of Fundy ambassador cruising various Ontario and Quebec ports...what a great idea, Charles!
It's been awhile since I posted a favourite Bay of Fundy mussel recipe. This one is a bit unusual but excellent - if you like blue cheese that is!
Blue Cheese Mussels
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 stick celery, sliced
½ stick of leek, sliced
1kg mussels, cleaned
100ml white wine
30gr butter
60gr blue cheese, broken into small pieces
Juice of 1 lemon
1 handful of fresh spinach leaves
1 tbsp. chopped parsley
Place oil, onion, celery and leek in a pot and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add mussels, white wine, blue cheese, spinach, lemon juice and cook until mussels have opened.
Add butter and parsley, stir and serve.
Serves 3-4.
Just received these photos from one of our Bay of Fundy whale watch operators: Brier Island Whale & Seabird Cruises. There is certainly no whale watching at this time of year (starts in the spring!) but it's nice to see that Shelley is keeping a pretty close eye on activities down at the wharf.
Hi Terri – thought you’d enjoy seeing an interesting winter sight here on Brier Island at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy. While we don’t usually get much snow, we DO get some interesting ice formations during the winter fishing season. Here’s a photo of a vessel docked just below my house. The Mega Nova Ice 2 shows how ice formed on a slant as they were steaming into the wind. As a lobster boat it’s out on the ‘high seas’ - well, as much as 20 nautical miles off shore - every day and thus has many opportunities to get ‘decorated’ with ice. Keep warm! Shelley
I just heard about a small Maine Company, Quoddy Mist Sea Salt, that is using the briny seawater that surges up the Bay of Fundy to harvest an unusual product: salt.
As a bit of a foodie myself, I've noticed a trend toward gourmet salts - now widely available in fine restaurants and health food stores.
The processing of common table salt typically removes the minerals, including iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, manganese, zinc and iodine. But gourmet salt companies have figured out a way to purify the salt water but leave in higher percentages of the healthy minerals.
This is how the brine-to-salt process works: draw in seawater, filter it, heat it, evaporate it, grind it and package it. A byproduct of the process, which is strikingly similar to that used by maple syrup producers (we'll talk about that next month!), is distilled water. Currently Quoddy Mist discards the water back into the bay but the company is looking for a market for the pure water.
The end product can look like giant icicles, tiny snowflakes or little squares - lovely to see and taste!
I've noticed that the tide is frequently used as a metaphor in literature as something unstoppable or unharnessable by humans. Consider the famous tide quote: "Time and tide wait for no man" by Chaucer. Even still in common English when our circumstances change the tide is said to be 'turning' and we often speak of moving 'with' or 'against' the tide. Because most coastal locations around the world have some sort of tide (though admittedly not as big as ours here in the Bay of Fundy), it's just too tempting to create these handy tide metaphors.
Just got back from Halifax where the Bay of Fundy Tourism project that I manage won a 2nd award for its green business program!
Received at the annual Gulf of Maine reception, this Department of Environment award recognizes the success of our non-profit association in developing and implementing environmentally responsible tourism principles.
Our eco-business program works directly with tourism operators to identify and reduce environmental impacts of their businesses.
Here's a photo of our team accepting the award. I am joined by staff from the Eco-efficiency Centre (who delivers the eco-biz program for us) as well as folks from NS Tourism, Culture & Heritage and the Tourism Industry Association of NS.
In October, 2006, we received national recognition for our program when we were awarded the Parks Canada/Globe & Mail Sustainable Tourism Award at the Tourism Industry Association of Canada conference in Alberta.
Great snow around the Bay of Fundy today. Had a bit of fun in my back yard sculpting this whale out of snow.
I've had several emails from Bay of Fundy folks wondering what they can do to voice their concerns about the LNG proposal. One of the best things we can do is sign the new petition that urges the Canadian government to declare the effected area an "Emergency Marine Protected Area".
A vital Canadian resource can be protected with an Emergency MPA. Existing social assets such as traditional fishing, tourism, aquaculture, etc. are maintained by this process. New industrial developments , however, would be forestalled until it is shown that they will not negatively impact the existing natural and social environments. This could be just the way to end LNG's move up the coast!
If you'd like more info on other citizen initiatives regarding this project, check out the website www.savepassamaquoddybay.org. Or if you'd like to know more about possible effects on Fundy whales, see my November whale post or visit my colleague Art's Bay of Fundy whale blog.
The colder it gets this winter around the Bay of Fundy, the more enticing a Fundy-themed spa becomes. Many accommodations around the Bay offer spa experiences. These photos from Inn on the Cove in Saint John, New Brunswick, show a full body Phytomer mud wrap using marine nutrient rich mud and a Bay of Fundy hot stone massage overlooking the bay. Sounds good to me!
I came across this typical Bay of Fundy winter sight while walking the dog this morning. Food for shore birds is scarce this time of year so many people share stale crusts of bread with seagulls. If encouraged, gulls will appear out of nowhere to feast just outside our back doors but I, like most Bay folks, like the excuse to go to the beach to feed 'em.
The past few winters around the Bay of Fundy haven't been cold enough to produce ice cakes of any decent size. When I was a kid I remember some the size of a car. However, this year we've had enough of a cold snap to witness the formation of sheet ice in Fundy's many sheltered harbours. Here's a photo taken in the inner Parrsboro harbour this morning. The only thing missing is the eerie creaking and groaning of the ice as it shifts from the flow of tide beneath.
In my frequent travels around the Bay of Fundy over the past decade I've witnessed many photographers (professional & amateur) and painters 'in action' capturing images of our Bay.
I came across one such artist recently: plein air painter Nita Leger Casey. Nita lives in New England but has spent many summers painting the Bay of Fundy in the areas around Campobello Island in Passamaquoddy Bay.
Here's a sample of her work (used with permission). To see more, visit Nita's blog Gingerbread Art Studio.
I've been searching everywhere for comprehensive environmental impact assessments of in-stream tidal energy. I guess because there haven't been any major in-stream tidal energy projects, there also isn't much available in the way of research results.
The environmental and societal impacts of the old style tidal barrage (think: dam) have been well documented: significant damage to estuarine ecosystems including destruction of habitat for fish, bird and other organisms, disruptions to commerical & recreational navigation, as well as significant alterations to river currents & sediments.
It appears that these factors would not come into play where in-stream tidal energy is concerned. Why?
1. in-stream turbines are located individually underwater, therefore no dam blocking the flow of water,
2. small marine life can pass through the slow turning blades (larger creatures are diverted by screens on some turbines),
3. early simulation appears to indicate that in-stream turbines (because they are capturing only a portion of the energy of the current) will not cause silt build up or significant alterations to marine currents.
If this is the case then in-stream tidal energy would be the greenest of the alternate energy technologies!
Just received this great concept photo from the team involved in the development of the Joggins Fossil Cliffs project on Chignecto Bay in the upper Bay of Fundy.
The 13,000 sq ft centre will house a gift shop, lab, about 6,000 ft of exhibition space devoted to the significance of the cliffs and will greatly improve access to the fossil beachs.
Wonderful to see that the building's design incorporates local sandstone as well as a couple of innovative 'green' features: a vegetation roof and a wind tower to provide electricity.
The Centre, which will open later this year, is expected to attract about 40,000 visitors annually from all over the world. I can't wait to head down there to see the finished product!
For more info on the Joggins Fossil Cliffs see my December post about its UNESCO World Heritage bid or visit the project website for frequent updates.
Ooooooh, too cold to do my usual dog walk from town to the beach this morning (-21 C) so I heaved Belle in the back of my VW bug and drove over. Went for an awesome walk and I just had to capture these silvers & blues when we got back to the car. Another beautiful day on the Bay of Fundy!
My final New Year's wish for the Bay of Fundy is in such stark contrast to the green tidal energy project I've been describing...it's bizarre!!
This wish involves controversial proposal to build a $700 million dollar liquefied natural gas plant at Maine's Mill Creek where the St. Croix River meets Passamaquoddy Bay just 20 kilometres south of the Canada-U.S border. At least one nearly 1000-foot-long LNG tanker is expected to pass through Head Harbour each week. Even before the plan has gone through environmental reviews on both sides of the border, our government says it will not allow LNG tankers through what it claims are Canadian waters. Yay Canada! but...
Sourced these photos of OpenHydro's style of turbine. The above-surface platform shown on the one photo is primarily for demonstration purposes (to raise & lower the turbine) and would not be in the final 'field' of turbines. They would be fully submerged (like the other photo).
OpenHydro's turbines resemble giant fans with the blades connected to a rotor which spins slowly inside the structure as water flows through. Electricity is generated as the rotor turns past a magnet generator on the outer rim of the structure.
The whole "fan" is anchored to the ocean floor, and no dam is required. The speed and volume of water passing through the area, depth and geology of the seabed and distance to a grid connection determine the cost and output of its turbines.
Just in the news this weekend: Nova Scotia Power has picked an Irish firm to provide its first in-stream tidal turbine for an experiment in the Bay of Fundy. OpenHydro of Dublin was selected for the project, which is scheduled to begin operations in 2009. "By selecting OpenHydro, Nova Scotia Power has chosen a company that has been most successful in demonstrating their design in ever increasing sizes. They offer a simple and environmentally friendly unit, which we believe will allow our demonstration project to be successful. When completed, this will be the largest in-stream tidal generating unit integrated into an electricity grid in the world," said James Taylor, NSP’s general manager of environmental planning and monitoring. Last fall, NSP submitted an application for funding for the tidal power demonstration project to Sustainable Development Technology Canada. The company is awaiting further notification on funding and an environmental assessment of the project.
Further to previous posts about tidal energy, here's an interesting artist's rendition of the type of turbine that could be used to create in-stream tidal energy in the Bay of Fundy. Look to me very much like the modern wind turbines, only submerged. (photo borrowed from Marine Current Turbines website (U.K.))
After posting my "100 billion tonnes" high/low tide photo a few days ago, I received these photos & a note from Susan at the Ministers Island Historic Site in St Andrews, New Brunswick.
This is my favorite high/low tide spot on the Bay of Fundy. The road to our island is fully exposed for several hours at low tide (we escort visitors over, just to be safe!) but then at high tide it is 14 to 17 feet under water. At high tide we really are an island in the traditional sense of the word. For sure this is one spot on the Bay of Fundy that is worth seeing at high tide then again 6 hours, 13 minutes later at low tide. People are astounded by the change!!
I hope Susan doesn't mind that I put in a little dotted line on the low tide photo to show the sea floor road. I've been over many times - it is very cool!
Further to my 2nd Bay of Fundy New Year's wish that none of our whales get injured or killed by shipping this year...
As evidenced by my previous posts, Fundy's whales are never far from my mind. Therefore, you can imagine how I felt when I heard on December 30th that a two-year old male Right whale had been discovered dead off othe coast of Georgia (winter feeding grounds). Struck by a ship.
This sad photo shows researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution of Massachusetts performed a autopsy on the whale.
2006 proved to be an exceptionally bad year for what might be the world’s most endangered large whale as six of these giant creatures that migrate up and down the East Coast were found dead. Five of the deaths were the direct result of human caused interactions including four deaths due to ship strikes and one from a fishing gear entanglement.
With less than 400 North Atlantic right whales on the planet, scientific studies have shown that the precarious population cannot withstand this level of human caused mortality. In addition to Canadian efforts, the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service in the U.S. has been in the process of proposed rulemaking to better protect right whales from both shipping and fishing impacts for several years.
This type of measure (though not perfect) was implemented successfully in 2004 in here in the Bay of Fundy, which is the principal late summer feeding ground for many right whales. A similar proposal is in the works to move the shipping lanes going into Boston, which has America’s only whale feeding marine sanctuary, just 25 miles east of its port.
Unless you've actually seen the tides here on the Bay of Fundy, it's a bit tricky to get your head around exactly what 100 billion tonnes of seawater looks like filling and emptying the bay twice a day. Short of having an aerial timed video of the tide moving in & out over 6 hours, I guess photos are the still the best option. (I'm totally up for doing the aerial if anyone has a spare helicopter they'd like to donate to the cause). There are many pairs of high/low tide photos that help to show the volume of water in our bay. I'll track them down and post them as I find them. These two photos were at Five Islands Provincial Park near where I live.
Just had a note from the folks who operate Inn on the Cove & Spa in Saint John on the New Brunswick side of the Bay of Fundy witnessing another type of tidal energy...
Since the inn first opened some 15 years ago, a regular Scottish guest maintains the area is magical. He says the Druid lines of force intersect close to the property creating a powerful and magical strength. No matter what one might believe, it is clear that the tides have an enormous influence on us and our guests at the inn.
The pulse of the tides effect our total environment here. Every six hours and 20 minutes, more than 100 billion tonnes of water rush in or out of the bay with an energy that can be felt as well as seen. The very geology and complete environment of our area is affected by this power.
Winter weather can produce 'dragon's breath' or clouds of 'sea smoke' roiling and boiling off the surface of the massive tidal panorama. During warm summer days, cold waters of the Bay of Fundy sometimes generate fog that swirls and spills like airborne rivers over headlands and islands to cloak the area in a cotton-like blanket of mystery. Nearby the rapidly flowing St. John River also is stopped and reversed at high tide as bay waters roar inland twice daily.
The mighty tides of the Bay of Fundy influence both beauty and wellness our inn & spa on the edge of this incredible body of water. Stones smoothed by the bay's tidal energy and marine nutrient based aesthetic products are used for a special Bay of Fundy massage therapy unique to Inn on the Cove. Such treatments were first used successfully by ancestral peoples and the benefits are now being recognized and repeated.
I just came across this great aerial map of the Minas Passage between Parrsboro and Cape Blomidon, the narrowest channel in the Bay of Fundy (approx. 4.5 to 6.5 km wide). It's not hard to imagine why this site was identified in a recent tidal energy study as having great tidal in-stream energy potential! (photo borrowed from the Maritime Tidal Energy website).
I forgot to mention the potential of the Bay of Fundy's tidal energy resource. It is estimated that a single generator in the Minas Channel (between Parrsboro and Cape Blomidon) could generate 250 megawatts of power - that's about enough to power 200,000 homes.
I guess that makes sense when you consider that there is 100 billion tonnes of sea water moving in and out of the Bay of Fundy in a single tide cycle - more than the combined flow of all the freshwater rivers in the world!
There is already one small tidal energy project: the Annapolis Tidal Generating Station which has been operating on the Annapolis River since 1984. It uses Bay of Fundy tides to produce 20 megawatts of energy, or enough to power 4,000 homes.
The world's largest tidal power project, the La Rance station built in France in the 1960s, generates 240 megawatts.I thought I'd explain my Bay of Fundy New Year's wishes in more detail.
#3 - Fundy Tidal Energy
In the 1970s there was a move to create a barrage-style tidal energy project in the upper Bay of Fundy. Fortunately communities and ecologists rallied against such a plan (which would have involved creating a huge dam across the bay!). Such projects proceeded in other parts of the world to somewhat disasterous effects - such as the Severn Estuary barrage in Wales. Last summer I hosted a ecology researcher from the Severn Estuary who told me first hand about the "legacy" of that tidal project.
Some 20 to 30 years later, the technology of tidal generators appears to have greatly improved. Now there are several wave power projects on the go (these are used in the open ocean) and other in-stream concepts (this is what would be suitable for the Bay of Fundy). One type of in-stream tidal generator is something the modern wind mill, but it located under water and not visible from shore. Another type is something like a sub-surface kite that switches direction when the tide turns. Both appear to be much less disruptive to the environment, the fishing industry and recreational use of the Bay of Fundy.
Our mayor in Parrsboro has just returned from a tidal power discovery mission to London, Glasgow and the Orkneys with various government departments. He has a great personal interest in tidal energy as well as being the mayor of the town that is likely to be the staging ground for a pilot project, so I guess that gives me a front row seat for all the action!
I'm not much of a resolution maker but as we move into the new year I realized that I do have three hopes for our beautiful bay in 2007:
1. that the Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) proposal for Passamaquoddy Bay (a part of the Bay of Fundy on the New Brunswick side bordering Maine) be CANCELLED,
2. that NO Fundy whales are injured by ships this year,
3. that discussions continue toward the possibility of TIDAL energy (which would result in the Bay of Fundy being respected throughout the world as a source of GREEN energy)....I think more needs to be known about the environmental impacts of tidal power but the idea is intriquing to me at this point.
The Bay of Fundy lobster season closes in our area (zone 35) tomorrow so our Christmas day feed was well-timed. We piled a dozen lobsters on a platter in the middle of the table then dug in...gives a whole new meaning to all-u-can-eat! I don't think I'll quit my day job to become a food photographer but my first 2-pounder was every bit as appetizing as it looks in this photo!
Weather forecast is not looking very 'white' for Christmas around the Bay of Fundy this year. However, we had a couple nice snowfalls earlier in December at least to get winter launched. I just opened my email to find these frosty photos from the Annapolis Historic Gardens taken a after the first snowfall this month. I previously posted some of Trish's fabulous pics... Fundy in Bloom in November!!
Just heard about an early "Christmas gift" for one of the Bay of Fundy's most intriguing natural attractions: the Joggins Fossil Cliffs!
Yesterday federal and provincial governments announced $7-million for development of an interpretive centre at the Joggins Fossil Cliffs; a key part of a plan to win UNESCO world heritage status for the site.
The site covers 10 kilometres of cliffs up to 30 metres high in the village of Joggins, Nova Scotia. It's about an hour along the coast from where I live in Parrsboro. At Joggins the tides continually erode the cliffs, exposing fossils that date back 310 million years.
The money will be spent on creating a tourism and heritage centre, which would house displays and lab space for researchers, as well as a cafe and store. The project also includes an access trail to the beach, guides to explain the site to tourists, and a marketing plan to transform the centre into a major tourist destination.
The $9-million Joggins Fossil Centre should be completed next summer (with the UNESCO World Heritage designation expected in 2008). I think this will add an outstanding facility to an already amazing natural wonder - Bay of Fundy fossils - way to go, Joggins!
Decorating oranges with cloves is another Bay of Fundy Christmas tradition. Oranges can be completely covered in cloves (and later tucked into a closet as a natural air freshener for the rest of the winter), or a simple design can be created. I like to make a pattern then pop a tealight candle into the top, just like this one on the living room mantle of our captain's house.
Finally got around to making my Christmas cookies this week. One of my favourite culinary exercises involves taking customary Bay of Fundy ingredients and popping them into other people's traditional recipes - in this case Italian biscotti. Several years ago I developed two recipes that have become Christmas favourites: cranberry-orange biscotti and gingerbread biscotti. Cranberries are harvested commercially here in the Bay of Fundy and also grow wild in bogs. Ginger is a prominent element in Fundy baking, having arrived generations ago when Fundy's brigs and barks sailed the international spice routes.
So much for winter on the Bay of Fundy! It's plus 5 degrees C today and all the pretty snow has melted away. Here's a video of that same beach I shot yesterday - now looking strangely summery...hrmph! Ah well, it's still a neat video to have beside the other because this is LOW tide at Partridge Island beach and yesterday panoramic was shot at HIGH tide. **notez: the Bay has lots of beaches with much more extreme tide differentiation than this one!
I had such a great result with the winter beach photos that I decided to video the high tide beach at the edge the Parrsboro harbour. I finally opened a YouTube account so I could post this properly - that's assuming I can figure out how to embed it... Take a look and see what you think!
I just can't resist adorning our historic sea captain's house (inside & out) on the Bay of Fundy with the best acoutrements that nature can provide - balsam fir branches, fresh holly & pine boughs. We just enjoyed our first 'sky is falling' snow this week - chubby fresh flakes. Nothing like a blanket of the white stuff to get me in the mood for the holidays.
(to see our house emblazoned in autumn leaves, check out one of my Fall colours postings)
After a delightfully warm and colourful autumn on the Bay of Fundy, the weather has moved on to the next chapter of our storybook seasons: winter. I love how snow transforms Fundy's beaches into monochromatic palates where even colour photos like these express the subtle texture of artful black & whites. I snapped these pics this afternoon just after high tide turned to recede in the Parrsboro harbour.
Ah well this news is timely, seeing as we've been talking about whales a lot this week...
From London, England... the International Maritime Organization is expected to vote to shift the busy shipping lanes off Massachusetts up to 16 km (10 miles), north and narrow them by a mile to reduce collisions with whales - the first time such a detour would be enacted in U.S. waters to protect an endangered species.
The move, government scientists say, will reduce the risk of ship strikes to the North Atlantic right whale by up to 60 percent and other large baleen whales by as much as 81 percent.
Three years ago, the IMO, a United Nations agency, shifted shipping lanes in Canada's Bay of Fundy four miles east to protect right whales, the first time that a world shipping lane had been altered to protect an endangered species.The U.S. government has been trying to do the same for several years and has documented the vast number of right whales and other large whales that feed and frolic smack in the middle of the current shipping lanes off Massachusetts.
Redrawing lanes is not simple; changes must be submitted to the International Maritime Organization who can take more than a year to review requests and make a decision.
If the U.S. government request is approved, the shift will take place in June, 2007, to ensure there is time to make changes to navigational charts. An International Maritime Organization official said this week that a subcommittee on navigation and safety recommended the change and that such recommendations usually gain adoption by the agency.
Researchers at U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have discovered that whales tend to feed in two distinct areas that form an hourglass-like design off the U.S. coast.
The area where Right whales calve, off the coast of the southeastern United States, is the home to three major shipping ports. This means that the whales' nursery is criss-crossed by at least 245 ocean-going vessels a month.
Whale reseachers in this region regularly perform aerial surveys between now and the end of March, looking for mothers and their calves, in order to recommend appropriate shipping routes and specific conservation efforts.
Because there are so few right whales, researchers know individuals at a fairly intimate level and can readily recognize individual whales by their markings.
Since we're on the topic of Right whales, I thought you might like to know a bit more about them...
From the 11th century to the early 20th century, right whales were hunted extensively.Their name comes from the fact that they were the "right" whales to kill: They are large, slow moving and filled with oil, blubber and high-quality baleen, or what whalers called whalebone.
Almost anything we'd use steel for now was made of whalebone in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, including bedsprings, pie cutters, corsets and buggy whips.
In 1935, after being declared "commercially" extinct, the right whale was granted federal protection. Unfortunately, the population has not rebounded the way researchers would like...with only approximately 350 whales surviving today.
It's predicted that if the population continues to stagnate, the species will be extinct in 200 years. Part of the problem is that right whales are long-lived and reproduce slowly. But the real danger lies at the intersection of human and right whale behavior and geographical preference.
Like people, right whales spend most of their time near the coasts - in areas where boat traffic is high and fishing gear, such as lobster pots and lines, is prevalent.
added Dec 10 - for more info on our whale's visit the Fundy whale blog
I always knew that the Bay of Fundy's northern right whales headed south for the winter, but I've only recently thought about where exactly they go.
Seasonal movements are still poorly understood but, generally, they move between rich summer/fall feeding grounds (Bay of Fundy) and warm winter calving grounds. During November and December right whales almost disappear with a few scattered reports coming from far flung areas such as Jeffreys Ledge off Northern Massachusetts and offshore of Cape May, New Jersey. By late winter and early spring, two distinct groups appear: calving females off southern Georgia/northern Florida and non-calving whales feeding off the Massachusetts coast (Cape Cod Bay, Great South Channel and Nantucket Sound).
Good news to report this week. About 40 rare North Atlantic right whales that were lingering in the Bay of Fundy are finally heading south. It's assumed that they delayed their departure by six weeks because of an abundance of plankton in the Bay.
The Department of Fisheries reports that they were spotted in the Gulf of Maine as they ventured further south.
Officials and conservation groups say the whale's eventual departure caps a bleak season that saw the loss of two females and the deaths of a calf and adult that were hit by ships in the summer feeding grounds.
Two whales could have produced in excess of 20 calves over their lifetimes - a vital contribution to a population that has dwindled to about 320 worldwide after years of being slaughtered, dying in gear or being struck by ships.
About 19 right whales were born this year, but one calf was killed and a pregnant female died in U.S. waters.
Scientists and ecologists are hoping to reduce the risk of ship strikes by pressing the International Maritime Organization to make the Roseway Basin an area to be avoided by large vessels. Whales migrate to the basin, a diverse ecosystem rich in marine life off the southwest coast of Nova Scotia, every year to feed on plankton and other food sources.
Lori Murrison of the Grand Manan Whale and Seaboard Research Station said Transport Canada has approved the initiative to issue an advisory to seafarers and is optimistic the international group will approve it, possibly next year.
Wrack lines are rows of seaweed, shells pieces, driftwood, etc. that run the length of the beach marking the place where the tide reaches its highest point. Since the tides of the Bay of Fundy differ in height every day a quick glance down the beach will often give you a glimpse past few days' tidal history.
I snapped this photo at our tidal harbour when I was out walking the dog on the weekend. There are 5 clear wrack lines there showing that the tide was higher in the first cycle (1), then slightly lower on the subsequent four cycles. One big full moon tide will scoop up all those rack lines and form a nice neat line along the beach above them all!
I've heard of people having their weddings at lighthouses, etc., but today heard of something even more fun (okay, so I'm a car nut!): Cape d'Or Lighthouse and approaching cliffside roads being used for 2007 truck road tests by General Motors - no kidding!
Here's a taste of Lesley Wimbush's Auto123.com road test commentary...(photos also by Lesley).
We're high above the point where the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia runs into the Minas channel and yet, the clifftops of Cape D'or tower over us. Winding down and around the jagged cliffs and thick forest, a rough road resembling a logging trail ends at a ledge that juts out into the Bay. Perched on this ledge, the Lighthouse of Cape D'or overlooks the hauntingly remote panorama of the Fundy shoreline.
Our arrival at the lighthouse turned bed and breakfast was a scheduled lunch stop on a two-day driving program - a Canadian press launch for General Motors new Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks. Our journey had begun in New Brunswick, with photo stops at the fossil strewn shoreline of Joggins, where fishing boats were left stranded by the receding tide. We'd reached our rest stop via the harrowing forest road, bordered only by a battered guardrail. Parking our trucks and making our way to the edge of the cliff, more than one person remarked that it could just be the end of the earth....
To read more, take a look at Lesley's full posting (Nov. 24) on Auto123.com!
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