Miramichi River
The estuary comprises the inner portion of Miramichi Bay and is protected from ocean storms in the Gulf of St. Lawrence by barrier islands.
The estuary is a highly dynamic environment, ranging from the high outflows of freshwater during the spring freshet, to the low outflow and rising saltwater content during the summer period, to fall ocean storms and nor'easters that reshape the barrier islands and the old river channel that forms the navigation channel for ocean-going ships heading to ports at Chatham and Newcastle, to the winter covering of sea ice that encases the entire estuary.
Soils in the Miramichi River watershed are typically acidic with shallow topsoil, lending to poor suitability for agriculture.
The shorelines of the estuarine portion of the Miramichi River exposes newer rocks belonging to the Carboniferous period and underlay the sandy topsoil, however some coastal land is low lying and suffers poor drainage.
The Miramichi River and its tributaries originally supported one of the largest populations of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in North America.
About one-half of the sport catch of Atlantic salmon in North America are landed on the Miramichi River and its tributaries currently.
of Natural Resources to obtain the specific rules and regulations for each river and tributary in the Province of New Brunswick prior to fishing, as special licences, salmon "tags" and permits are required, and certain sections of tributaries and the main river are closed to fishing from time to time to protect salmon brood stocks.
In the early 1950s the Miramichi area began having a spruce budworm problem which was affecting the trees purposed for the local pulp and paper industry.
Assuming the DDT would only harm the budworms, planes kept their spraying jets on over the entire region including over the major waterways.
Combating the spruce budworm problem by spraying DDT ultimately altered the entire ecosystem of the Miramichi River.
Silent Spring had a huge influence on the 20th century environmental movement and shed light on issues in small areas such as Miramichi, New Brunswick.
