Environmentalists in Witless Bay have won a long-standing battle to protect Ragged Beach — a piece of coastline adjacent to the seabird-populated Witless Bay Ecological Reserve — after the Newfoundland and Labrador government designated the area protected under a new land reserve.
Witless Bay Deputy Mayor Lorna Yard says she was stunned by the decision.
“After about the fifth time I read the announcement, I just, I was in shock. I was in heavy shock,” Yard told CBC News in a recent broadcast. “I was just in complete and utter shock.”
The battle of Ragged Beach has been fought by locals for years, with developers on one side and conservationists on the other. Yard is one such local who had been pushing for the protection of the land for over a decade.
According to an advisory release on Sept. 29 from the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture, the reserve will further protect the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve bird populations from any potential impacts of future developments.
The advisory states that development on the Crown land there is now restricted.
Such development in the area would be an essential piece of the puzzle for developers who own private land along the coast but need road access to their properties through Crown land. Without Crown land development, all other potential development along Ragged Beach halts.
“Now that we have the Crown land reserve we can move past some of the negative things that have happened,” said Yard.
Through the past several years there have been various conflicts regarding the development of Ragged Beach, including when, in 2021, the provincial Supreme Court found Witless Bay’s then deputy mayor, Maureen Murphy, to be in conflict when she voted for the development of a road that led to land belonging to her brother.
The conflict of interest case halted development for the time being, but the provincial government’s recent decision seems to have ended the conversation for good.
“We can look at things like maybe a marine research station here in Witless Bay,” said Yard. “Maybe partner with the university, education programs for kids, keep seniors connected to their environment.”
“When you think about all the things that to come out of that economically, culturally, artistically, it’s incredible potential.”
Battle over Ragged Beach ends with win for conservationists
Duration3:39Ragged Beach in Witless Bay, N.L., has been fought over for years, with developers on one side and conservationists on the other. Now the area and its bird populations will be protected by a land reserve.
Bill Montevecchi, a seabird biologist and professor of psychology, biology and ocean sciences at Memorial University, applauded the new land reserve, which he said will help protect stranded birds.
“There is a mortality of these birds attracted to light, and it’s coastal light that pulls them in,” said Montevecchi. “We get grounded puffins, young puffins, we get grounded storm petrels in Bay Bulls, Witless Bay, Mobile, and they’re all attracted to light.”
“So anywhere we can have someplace like this, immediately adjacent where there’s no light, that’s just a huge precautionary tactic, you know, on the part of the government, on the part of people who are concerned about sea birds, the marine environment,” said Montevecchi.
The Witless Bay Ecological Reserve has North America’s largest colony of Atlantic puffins, with over 600,000 breeding birds, and is located one to two kilometres offshore from the Ragged Beach area, notes a statement from the provincial government about the decision.
Seabirds in the area are attracted to artificial light, and will fly toward it and get stranded onshore, said Montevecchi.
“And every bird that strands on the beach, it’s going to die.”
Montevecchi hopes the next step will be to integrate the new Ragged Beach land reserve into the Wilderness and Ecological Reserve Act, which would make it harder to reverse the decision if more development is proposed.
In a statement, the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture said the 75-hectare reserve came into effect Sept. 23 “to further protect nearby Witless Bay Ecological Reserve bird populations from potential impacts of future development.”
“New development of Crown land will be restricted in this area. The minister may issue grants, leases, licences and easements where required on an urgent basis for the public good.… Private land is not included in the reserve.”
Source : CBC
