Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
Department of Fisheries and Oceans
During a visit to Newfoundland last week, federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, said that while exploration drilling is permitted within the refuge, production is not. "There are different levels of protection. In marine protected areas, there is no allowance for oil and gas development, but in marine refuges there is a provision that allows for exploration but not for production. So one can actually explore within the context of a marine refuge", Wilkinson said Wednesday.
It's that rarest of rare conditions along coastal Newfoundland: a dead calm day. By 7 a.m., the crew aboard the fishing boat Belle of the Bay are taking full advantage of it, steaming out of the harbour in Heart's Content under dazzling July sunshine, with their sights set on a prized catch in the middle of Trinity Bay. It's not fish they're after. The object awaiting them looks like a mashup between a torpedo, a banana, and a Dash 8 — a type of underwater drone, called a glider.
Warming ocean temperatures — especially in deep water — set more records in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 2021, according to climate data released Tuesday by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. "Everything about the Gulf of St. Lawrence was warmer in 2021," said federal research scientist Peter Galbraith, based at the Lamontagne Institute in Mont-Joli, Que.
Dangerously high water temperatures have closed several salmon angling rivers in Newfoundland and Labrador as officials watch water levels and salmon mortality rates across the province. According to a media release issued this week by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, eight rivers were closed to day anglers due to rising water temperatures over a three-day period. The rivers range across angling zones 5 and 6, including rivers in Port Blandford, Trinity Bay, Alexander Bay, Trinity Bonavista Bay and Indian Bay, A full list of closures can be found in the 2021 Anglers' Guide.
A decade-long warming trend in the Gulf of St. Lawrence continued in 2020 with deep waters reaching record highs, according to ocean climate data released Tuesday by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Water temperatures at depths of 200, 250 and 300 metres were higher than any measured in the Gulf since records started in 1915, hitting highs of 5.7 C, 6.6 C and 6.8 C. All were well above the normal variations.
