A Sneak Peek at Non-Government Ecotourism Destinations in NL

                Our last blog post covered Newfoundland’s National Parks, with a focus on the conservation efforts in place at each. This weeks post is shifting away from government owned parks to public funded or privately owned examples of ecotourism and how they incorporate conservation effort. We take a coast to coast peek at tourist destinations like the East Coast Trail, Iceberg Alley and Salmon Fishing in Hawke’s Bay Labrador.

The East Coast Trail:

The East Coast Trail has received global recognition as an ecotourism destination. The trail system opened in 2001 and has been expanding ever since. It is a not for profit organization and runs mainly thanks to donations and the help of volunteers. The East Coast Trail Association aims to maintain and preserve its network of trails while balancing a great hiking experience with the needs of the communities as well as maintaing the quality of the natural environment. The trail is a 540 km network of coastal paths that provide breathtaking scenery and routes providing various levels of hiking difficulty.

Image: Scenic view of the East Coast Trail
(Image source: http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/trips/best-adventure-destinations-2012/?source=link_twt20120209adventure#/newfoundland-cape-spear_45469_600x450.jpg)

Last month (February, 2012) National Geographic listed the East Coast Trail as one of the worlds top ten adventure destinations.To read the article in National Geographic follow this link: http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/trips/best-adventure-destinations-2012/?source=link_twt20120209adventure#/newfoundland-cape-spear_45469_600x450.jpg

It promotes the trails alongside of well known destinations such as Mayan ruins and snorkeling in Australia. This is a huge boost to the ecotourism movement in Newfoundland. This is not the first nod that this trail system has received from National Geographic either. In 2010, the Avalon Peninsula and the trail received the title of the "No. One Coastal Destination in the World."

Hiking is an environmentally friendly way to explore our environment. It promotes exercise and outdoor exploration with minimal damage to the environment. Unlike all terrain vehicles's and snow mobiles, hiking or snowshoeing/skiing the trails does very little mechanical damage. Increasing the traffic through the trails may increase the garbage and debris left behind, but as long as the association sticks true to their mandate of maintaining the environmental integrity, the balance of tourism and environmentalism can be kept.

Iceberg Ally:

Iceberg Ally is a notorious tourist attraction in the coastal waters near St. Anthony, Newfoundland. It is a region famous for icebergs, seabirds, whales and dolphins providing ideal components for a privately owned tour company.

One of the prominent ecotourism companies in the area is Northland Discovery Boat Tours. It is a family owned, award-winning tour group that prides itself on offering a rich ecological and cultural experience. The Alcock family own the business, and being from Newfoundland, they appreciate the delicacy of the natural environment. They began operating in 1997, and state their mission to be “making our guest’s trip with us the highlight of their vacation by providing a highly entertaining learning vacation that reveals our unique culture and natural attractions” (Northland Discovery Boat Tours, 1997). They ensure that their tours are eco-friendly and support conservation efforts through public education within their tours. In addition to marine conservation, they are committed to whale research and cultural preservation. 

Image: Northland Discovery boat tour providing whale and iceberg watching
(Image source: http://www.discovernorthland.com/gallery.htm)

Aside from the obvious abundance of icebergs, the area is great for viewing a variety of whales including: humpbacks, atlantic white beaked dolphins, minke and even killer whales. The region is also home to local sea bird colonies include kittiwakes, guillemots and arctic terns. 

Commercial tour companies that are openly concerned with conservation, helps to protect the local species while educating the public about the needs of the area.

Hawke’s Bay Salmon Fishing:

With nearly 200 scheduled salmon rivers, Newfoundland and Labrador is world renowned as an Atlantic Salmon sport-fishing paradise. While sport-fishing regulations exist for every scheduled river in the province (maximum catches per season range from 0-6), poaching and overfishing are still very big problems. In fact, in 2011 alone, there were  nearly 30 people convicted of poaching on the island (SPAWN, 2011). Surely, countless more went unpunished. 

But the story of salmon fishing in Newfoundland is not all doom and gloom. One community on the Northern Peninsula, Hawke's Bay, has taken the opportunity to transform a dying sport-fishing destination into an ecotourism hotspot. The information that follows can be found in greater detail at http://torrentriver.ca/history/. 

The Torrent River runs straight through the town of Hawke's Bay, and until the 1960's was ravaged by overfishing and pulpwood cutting. Salmon stocks were reduced dramatically from historic levels. Over the past 5 decades, however, the river has seen a remarkable turn around. In 1965 a salmon ladder was installed, allowing the salmon populations access to new breeding grounds further up the river. While this action alone was not successful, a salmon fishing moratorium along with the introduction of wild salmon from another river in the area led to small population increases. 

Image: Salmon Ladder on the Torngat River, Hawke's Bay
(Image source: http://www.nfinteractive.com/archives/showpic.php?id=2304)

Inspired by the work, Wallace Maynard, an inhabitant of Hawke's Bay, turned the river into an ecotourism destination. The site now includes chalets, camp sites, walking trails and guided tours of the salmon ladder. Decades of tourist donations and volunteer help have led to a number of great developments, including the rebuilding of the ladder, and the construction of a dam to guide water and make it easier for salmon to reach their spawning grounds. Probably most impressive was the donation of one million dollars from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to the river in 2003, money that was used to maintain the salmon ladder and to pay staff to keep a watch on salmon counts. Over the past few years it seems as though the salmon populations in the river are doing better then they have in decades.

While the Torrent River story is an exception amongst the rivers of Newfoundland and Labrador, it is easy to see how ecotourism, when managed properly, can do some amazing things. In this case, it brought Torrent River salmon stocks back from the dead. 

References:

http://www.discovernorthland.com/index.htm 

http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/trips/best-adventure-destinations-2012/?source=link_twt20120209adventure#/newfoundland-cape-spear_45469_600x450.jpg

http://www.spawn1.ca/2011Convictions.php  

http://www.nfinteractive.com/archives/showpic.php?id=2304 

http://torrentriver.ca/history/.