Designing a long-term environmental monitoring program for the Saint John Harbour
Allen Curry, Heather Hunt, Karen Kidd, Canadian Rivers Institute, University of New Brunswick
The Saint John Harbour is a major marine port with high shipping traffic. It is also an urban centre, with dredging, discharges of municipal wastewater and industrial effluents from oil refining, brewing, and pulp and paper production. All of these activities are overlaid on 8 metre semi-diurnal tides. This multi-year project established baseline data that can be used to assess cumulative environmental effects. A long-term environmental monitoring program will enable government regulators, harbour managers, industry, NGOs and residents to identify areas that are currently experiencing (or are likely to experience) ecological stress and to predict potential impacts from new or proposed developments in order to prevent or mitigate negative impacts.
