We call ourselves Atlantic Canada’s Ocean Playground, yet our Government refuses to enact the unanimously passed Coastal Protection Act. Up to eighty percent of our coastline is privately owned and regulation is therefore critical for protection. The entire coast is one huge ecosystem. For example, fines eroding from a headland provide the sand for a nearby beach. And the shoreline, upland areas and adjacent water covered areas all work in harmony to provide valuable habitat for creatures large and small. This is particularly important where the inland areas are wetlands, providing natural sponges to absorb storm surges as well as providing extremely valuable habitats.
Installation of armoured banks and retaining walls interfere with these ecosystems and also transfer the wave energy laterally, often severely damaging innocent neighbouring properties.
It is not acceptable for the Provincial government to download the need for regulation to the municipal level, where the funding or expertise may not be available.
The fact that the entire coastline is one large ecosystem tells us that there is a need for one all-encompassing Coastal Protection Policy.
Dedicated to maintaining the balance of nature for people and their plant & animal friends.
Since 1954, when the organization was formed by Martin Rudy Haase to protect a unique island in Maine, Friends of Nature has been dedicated to maintaining the balance of nature for the mutual benefit of people and their plant and animal friends.
Friends of Nature
P.O. Box 577
Chester, Nova Scotia, B0J 1J0
Friends of Nature Conservation Society