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Eastern Charlotte
Waterways Inc. (ECW) received funds in the spring of 2005 from
the Environmental Trust Fund to scope out the development of a
New Brunswick Coastal Joint Action Group (NBC JAG). Set
out in the project proposal the task of the NBC JAG would be to
address coastal contaminants focusing on health and
sustainability issues through a multi-stakeholder collaborative
approach.
To determine the
organizations, agencies and groups that were willing to
participate in the proposed NBC JAG and the actions that would
be taken by the NBC JAG, ECW held two clinics in two regions of
the province. Please note: the term ‘clinic’ has been used
to accentuate the focus on treating the problems within coastal
zones in New Brunswick. The first clinic, The Northern New
Brunswick Coastal Issues Clinic, was held October 27, 2005 at
the Rodd Miramichi in Miramichi. The second clinic, The
Southern New Brunswick Coastal Issues Clinic, was held November
17, 2005 at the Delta Brunswick in Saint John.
The clinic in Miramichi was considered Phase I. The task
of Phase I was to determine the causes, problems and challenges
on the coastal zones of NB associated with three priority
issues; sewage, nutrients, and habitat/resource management.
Phase 1 work established some general steps and solutions that
could be undertaken to remedy the problem with these three
priority issues. (ECW understands that there are other
priority issues, invasive species, climate change, sediments,
POPs, etc in the coastal zones of NB but in terms of time it was
necessary to only select a few for consideration).
The clinic in Saint John was considered Phase II. The task
of Phase II was to determine relevant long-term remedial action
strategies for the coastal zones of NB using the information
gathered during phase I.
During each clinic the willingness of participants to support
and become part of a NBC JAG was gauged. It should be
noted that a number of groups and agencies had agreed to
participate in a JAG before the clinics were held.
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