Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
The extensive mudflats and salt marshes of the inner Bay of Fundy combine to boost biological productivity.
Most of this plant matter is shed by the action of the tides, or by ice in winter, into the marine zone, where it
becomes a pool of nutrients—feeding both the residents of the system and the migrants into the bay. Once, 300
square kilometers (115 square miles) of salt marsh fringed the Bay of Fundy coastline, but beginning in the
17th century the French Acadian settlers began dyking the marshes to create agricultural crop land, a practice
that continued into the 20th century. Today only 15 percent of the original salt marsh is still open to the sea.
Even with this significant loss of potential productivity, the inner Bay of Fundy remains a remarkably vital
ecosystem.
The inner bay not only nourishes native species but also hosts remarkable immigrations and is a critical
feeding ground for at least two populations: the American shad and the semipalmated sandpiper. Like whales
in the outer bay, these species come to the inner bay to feed. Lying at the center of their migrations, Fundy
functions as a critical link in their life cycles, tying together the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
ATLANTIC STURGEON
