ENVIRONMENT Researcher wades in
Researchers taking a deep peek into the Barbara Weit estuary
There used to be so many eels in the Barbara Weit River the train would to stop so passengers could fish, explained Chris Wall.
There used to be so many eels in the Barbara Weit River the train would to stop so passengers could fish, explained Chris Wall. He grew up at the river’s edge, and his family would tell him about the way things used to be.
“I’ve seen first-hand, the impacts and the changes of agriculture and Cavendish Farms on the estuary,” said Wall, a fisherman out of Malpeque. Researcher Michael van den Heuvel wants to find out the source of the greatest impact on the estuary between Summerside and Kensington. The director of the Canadian Rivers Institute and professor at the University of Prince Edward Island has been awarded a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to partner with Cavendish Farms and delve into the condition of the water in the estuary.
Wall said he has noticed the amount of sea lettuce has increased in the last five or six years, a lot of sedimentation has filled in the waterways too.
“When my father first came here, they used to drive their fishing boats up to the bridge,” he said.
“When I was little, you had a hard time to get a dory up there, where they used to be able to get a fishing boat. Now, you can pretty near walk across a good bit of the estuary. Places where the channels were 12 feet deep are now three or four feet deep. It’s just basically been destroyed, to put it politely.”
The Barbara Weit River system carries the evidence of human progress between its banks. The Town of Kensington flushes the
treated sewage products, Cavendish Farms’ processing plant drains its effluent, and decades of agriculture have lent their erosion and runoff.
This study was a chance to follow up on data collected about 10 years ago, and van den Heuvel was keen to develop a working partnership with the farming industry.
“It’s not been easy partnering with industry, farming in particular, around the province regarding environmental issues,” said van den Heuvel.
John MacQuarrie, Director of Environmental Sustainability at Cavendish Farms, said protecting the environment is one of the company’s core values. “Understanding the impact on the estuary from all sources
is a critical step in ensuring the long-term sustainability of this important water system,” said MacQuarrie.
Van den Heuvel and his team measured water flow and collected water samples from eight sites weekly all summer and fall to measure how much nitrogen and phosphorus were in the water. Ten oxygen loggers regularly measured how much oxygen was in the waterway and the team used sonar equipment to survey the bottom to make a bathometric map. Using the sonar and then a boat, the team searched in vain for eel grass.
“It starts again right at Malpeque Bay, but the Barbara Weit estuary itself has no remaining sea grass. It’s a fairly eutrophic environment,” the researcher said.
UPEI will study the information gathered over the summer to determine the areas supplying nutrients to the estuary. “Where is most of the nitrogen coming from? Where is most of the phosphorus coming from? There is both in the system,” he said. “We just don’t know the relative balance yet.”
Van den Heuvel will compare the new data to the “model estuary” he’s been able to develop after 20 similar surveys around the Maritimes.
Once they have a clear picture of what’s happening, it will be possible to make a strategy to improve water quality. As environmental awareness has developed. Industry, municipalities and individuals have started taking better care of the water, but Wall fears what’s done is done.
“The river’s definitely cleaner, but the past damage is done. Without the proper flushing and depth of water, I don’t think it’ll ever come back to where it was.”