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Ca So a O Ks 0 Is E Ies Tee Niea Ca so a o ks 0 A . Ove vie f D. McCracken Editor Bioloqical Station, St. Andrews, .B., 0 2XO January 1979 is e ies Tee niea Rsheries and En moment ~ et Enviromement Canada Canada Fisheries service des pkhes and Marine service et de Ia mer , -. : 1 ... r ~ - Fisheries and arine Service Technical Reports These report contain cientific and technical information that repre ents an important contribution to existing knowledge but which for orne reason may not be appropriate for primary scientific (i.e. Journal) publication. Technical Reports are directed primarily towards a world wide audience and have an international di tribution. 0 re triction is placed on ubject matter and the erie reflect the broad intere t and policie of the Fisherie and arine Service, namely, f herie management technology and development, ocean sciences, and aquatic en iron­ ments rele ant to Canada. Technical Report may be cited as full publication. The correct citation appear abo e the ab tract of each report. Each report will be ab tracted in Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts and will be indexed annually in the Service' index to cientific and technical publication. umber 1-456 in thi erie w"ere i ued a Technical Report of the Fi heries Re earch Board of Canada. umber 457-714 ere i ued a Department of the En ironment, Fi herie and arine Ser ice, Re earch and De elopment Director­ ate Technical Reports. The eries name was changed ith report number 1-. Detail on the a ailability of Technical Reports in hard copy may be obtained from the i uing establi hment indicated on the front co er. Service des peches et de la mer Rapports techniques Ce rapport contiennent des renseignement cientifique . et technique qui con tituent une contribution importante aux connai ances actuelle mai qui, pour une rai on ou pour une autre ne emblent pa approprie pour la publication dans un journal cientifique. II n'y a aucune re triction quant au ujet, de fait, la erie reflete la a te gamme des interet et de politique du Ser ice de peches et de la mer notamment ge tion de peches, techniques et de eloppement cience oceaniques et en ironnement aquatiques, au Canada. Le Rapport technique peu ent etre con idere comme de publications complete. Le titre e act paraitra au haut du resume de chaque rapport, qui era publie dan la re ue Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts et qui figurera dan I index annuel de publication cientifique et techniques du Service. Le numero 1-456 de cette erie ont ete publies atitre de Rapports techniques de I Office de recherches - ur les pecherie du Canada. Les nurnero 457-700, atitre de Rapport technique de la Direction generale de la recherche et du de eloppernent, Ser ice des peche et de la mer mini tere de I En ironnement. Le nom de la erie a ete modifie a partir du nurnero 01. La page cou erture porte Ie nom de I etabli ement auteur ou I on peut e procurer Ie rapport ous cou erture cartonnee. - Cover design by Chr ist ine Rusk Fisheries and Marine Service Technical Report 834 January 1979 CANSO MARINE ENVIRONMENT WORKSHOP PART 2 OF 4 PARTS AN OVERVIEW F. D. McCracken Editor St. Andrews Biological Station Resource Branch Fisheries and Oceans Canada St. Andrews, New Brunswick EOG 2XO This is the one hundred and fifteenth Technical Report from the Biological Station, St. Andrews, N.B. ii ~ Minister of Supply and Services Canada 1979 Cat. no. Fs 97-6/834 ISSN 0701-7626 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS PART II An Overview The Canso Causeway and its possible effects on regional inshore fisheries - an overview - M. J. Dadswell ••••••••••••••.••••••• 1 Some physical oceanographic features in relation to the Canso Causeway - an overview - R. W. Trites. ••••••••••• ••••• 14 A bibliography of the environment and fisheries of St. Georges Bay-Chedabucto Bay-Canso Strait region • • • • • • • • • • • • • •••.•• •• 30 -1- THE CANSO CAUSEWAY AND ITS POSSIBLE EFFECTS ON REGIONAL INSHORE FISHERIES - AN OVERVIEW by M. J. Dadswell Fisheries and Environmental Sciences Fisheries and Oceans Canada Biological Station St. Andrews, New Brunswick EOG 2XO -2- ABSTRACT Dadswell, M. J. 1979. The Canso Causeway and its possible effects on regional inshore fisheries ­ an overview. Fish. Mar. Servo Tech. Rep. 834. Fisheries in St. Georges Bay and Chedabucto Bay before and after completion of the Canso Causeway were examined. Most fisheries were apparently unaffected or changes within them can be explained solely by varying degrees of exploitation. The herring fishery in St. Georges Bay and Northumberland Strait and the lobster fishery in Chedabucto Bay may have been affected by the Causeway. Both collapsed within 10 yr of closure of the Strait. Cause of the herring fishery collapse in Northumberland Strait was confounded by an epizootic outbreak which occurred concurrent with closure of the Strait, and which is believed to have killed 1/3 of the Gulf herring stock. Collapse of the lobster fishery in Chedabucto Bay occurred too early in the 1960's to be attributable to the general overexploitation of lobster stocks then and may result from the Canso Causeway upsetting a recruitment mechanism and lowering general productivity of Chedabucto Bay. Key words: Exploitation, pelagic fisheries, marine crustaceans, lobsters, recruitment, epizootic, Canso Causeway, environmental effects, fisheries -3- INTRODUCTION Throughout history, straits and isthmuses have been a source of frustration and chall.~nge to man,< In Canada we have continually pr()gosed or actu~lly constructed causeways 0rc~naM through them •. Witness the long"'standing~ proposal s fOr a Pri nee Edward I slandica.~s~l1ay across Northumberl and St ra it (Farquhars8nl~59) , the Chignecto Canal and the. fact oftre/Canso Causeway. In the past, guide1ines for such work were almost solely economic with little>thought of possible changes that the construction might cause to natural systems involved. Undoubtedly a causeway across the strait of Canso had beendiscussedfor.a long. time, but in 1948 a committee was organized in Sydney, and a booklet was wr i'tten proposing to the Federal Government that a causeway be built (The Canso Crossing Association 1948). They were successful. In the falL9f 195.4 the Causeway was complete·andwasoffiGially "opened".in Fig. 1. The Strait of Canso region, Nova August 1955. Economically, for industrial Scotia, indicating location of the Canso development, the Causeway was a great success, Causeway, local industries, the extent of shell­ not only assisting industries in Sydney, for fish closures and location of Cerberus Rocks, which purpose it was originally proposed, but site of the tanker "Arrow" grounding. either by design or accident it stopped the southward flow of Gulf of St. Lawrence ice through the Strait creating one of the best ice-free, deep-water ports in eastern Canada. The local topography consists of low hills, This spurred growth of heavy industry and 500-600 ft in elevation at the northern end of population in the immediate area. the Strait with low hummocky land at the southern end. The northern hills have a Fisheries of the region may not have fared tunnelling effect on the predominantly westerly as well. For one, the lobster fishery in winds , turning and directing them southeastward Chedabucto Bay has declined precipitously from through the Strait (Environment Canada, almost 2 million lb in 1956 to 118,000 lb in 1963-71)• 1977, at a time when landed price of lobster has increased by 600%. OCEANOGRAPHIC CHANGES RELATED TO FISHERIES The Canso Causeway may have had an adverse effect on regional fisheries, but to what extent is still an open question. This paper will The major natural system of the region examine changes that have occurred in fisheries affected by the Causeway was the tidal regime of the St. Georges Bay-Chedabucto Bay system and and resulting currents in the Strait. Before point out areas of concern. closure, the two different tidal regimes at each end of the Strait (synodic in the south, THE SETTING declinational in the north), and the fact that they were 1.5-2.0 h out of phase (McLellan Formerly, the Strait of Canso separated 1954), caused the Strait to be swept by Cape Breton Island from mainland Nova Scotia alternate north- or south-flowing tidal currents (Fig. 1). It joined St. Georges Bay to the of varying intensity, but often in excess of 2.5 north, a part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to m/s (Fothergill 1954). Over 16 mo the mean Chedabucto Bay to the south, a part of the residual flow was 7.2 x 10 m3/s towards the Atlantic Ocean. The Strait is 27 km long, At.l ant i c (Fothergi 11 1954). Then as now, both running in a northwest-southeast direction. It St. Georges Bay and Chedabucto Bay were is relatively narrow, varying between 0.8 and 2 thermally stratified in summer with less saline km wide and ranging from 30 to 60 m deep. The surface water, with sharper stratification bathymetry of the Strait shows a flat-bottomed, occurring in St. Georges Bay (MacGregor 1952; U-shaped, fjord-like valley, but lacking true Buckleyet al , 1974). The current regime pro­ sills at either end. The Strait owes its duced vigorous mixing and decreased stratifica­ existence to a series of parallel faults, tion in the central portion of the Strait and running through soft sedimentary rocks of the resulted in a tidal displacement of 5-14 km/­ region, that were further deepened and shaped by half-cycle throughout the year (MacGregor 1952). gl acial scour (Map 1156A, Geol. Surv. Can; ; The most noticeable characteristic of the Owens 1971; Stevens, pers.
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