The Bay of Fundy Ecosystem Partnership

The Bay of Fundy Ecosystem Partnership (BoFEP) was initiated in 1997 to facilitate cooperative and integrated research on the Bay of Fundy at an ecosystem scale.  For the first 10 years, BoFEP was co-chaired by Graham Daborn, the then Director of the Acadia Centre for Estuarine Research, and Dr. Peter Wells. The BoFEP Secretariat, which has been located at the Acadia Centre for Estuarine Research since its inception, is the official administrative office of the organization.  It houses BoFEP information and documents and an administrative assistant who is responsible for providing administrative support for the Partnership. 

BoFEP is an inclusive, flexible and multidimensional organization for encouraging communication and co-operation among all Fundy stakeholders. Established as a "Virtual Institute", with no bricks and mortar, its main objective has been to foster wise conservation and management of the Bay's resources and habitats, by disseminating information, monitoring the state of the ecosystem and encouraging co-operative activities.

Specific research projects, conservation activities and other initiatives of the Institute are undertaken by multidisciplinary Working Groups constituted as needed from among the membership. Timely information exchange among the diverse and widely dispersed members of the Institute is mediated by a comprehensive Web Site readily accessible to both members and the general public.

There have been eight Bay of Fundy Science Workshops to date.  The last one was hosted by Acadia University, in Wolfville, NS during 26-29 May 2009, and chaired by the Director of the Acadia Centre for Estuarine Research. The theme of the Workshop, "Resource Development and its Implications in the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine" addressed many issues related to the development projects proposed or already underway in the Bay of Fundy - tidal power, quarries, LNG terminals, aquaculture sites, subsea pipelines and subterranean gas storage, to name just a few.

Membership in BoFEP is open to all interested citizens who share the general Vision, including community groups, resource harvesters, scientists, resource managers, coastal zone planners, businesses, government agencies, industries, shipping interests and academic institutions.

For more information regarding BoFEP, please visit the BoFEP website at www.bofep.org.  It's an excellence resource for material on the Bay of Fundy!