| Nashwaak River | |
| Name Etymology: | Wolastoqey Disputed between several original words and meanings, though most common are slow current, halfway-place, and strong undercurrent |
| Image Alt: | A glassy river, with large, voluminous yellow, orange, and green trees on its banks, reflected in the water. The photo is taken from on top of a wood-decked rusty steel bridge. |
| Subdivision Type1: | Country |
| Subdivision Name1: | Canada |
| Subdivision Type2: | Province |
| Subdivision Name2: | New Brunswick |
| River System: | Saint John River |
| Length: | 113km (70miles) |
The Nashwaak River, located in west-central New Brunswick, Canada, is a tributary of the Saint John River. It is 113 kilometres long. The river rises from Nashwaak Lake (southeast of the village of Juniper) and flows south and east through uninhabited land and rapids to the community of Nashwaak. From Nashwaak, the Nashwaak River flows southeast to Nashwaak Bridge and Taymouth, then south through several rural communities such as Durham Bridge, the historic town of Nashwaak Village and Penniac before it reaches the town of Marysville. It flows into the Saint John River opposite downtown Fredericton.
It was used heavily by the Wolastoqey people as a transportation route to northwestern New Brunswick. A French fort, Fort Nashwaak, was built at the river's mouth in 1692 (near present day Barker's Point, New Brunswick) and was the first European settlement in the Fredericton area. It was captured by the British in 1696, and land along the river was later granted to United Empire Loyalists during the American Revolution. Further settlement occurred through the 19th century.
A rail line (the former Canadian National Nashwaak subdivision) and Route 8, both important links from southern to northern New Brunswick, were built along the river's shore. The Nashwaak subdivision's rails were removed in 1995, and it is now an ATV and walking trail. In addition to the Nashwaak subdivision, the Minto subdivision passed from South Devon to Minto, crossing the Nashwaak near its mouth, has since been converted to a walking trail (in-city) and ATV trail (out of city), and the short line that followed the river on its east bank from Barkers Point to the then Marysville Cotton Mill has also since been converted into a recreational walking trail.
Today, the river is popular for recreational paddling, fishing, and tubing.
Atlantic salmon were plentiful in the Nashwaak River in the 19th century, but salmon populations in the entire Saint John River Basin plumetted through the 20th century. This has been attributed to a combination of habitat destruction by lumbering, mining and agriculture, overfishing, damming of rivers and aquaculture. Many of the factors apply in the Nashwaak basin. In the Nashwaak river, salmon counts declined from around 2000 in the 1970s to a few dozen in the 2010s.[1] Salmon fishing has been banned since 1998.[2] The Campbell Creek dam in Marysville was removed in 2021, in an attempt to aid fish migration.[3]
Aquaculture practices from upstream in the Saint John River have caused a dramatic drop in the salmon population of the Nashwaak river. In the past, the river was known for its abundance of salmon but fish numbers have decreased due to farming in various locations along the Saint John and in the Bay of Fundy. Fish raised in these hatcheries do not tend to migrate along their natural predecessors' routes up the Nashwaak as they once did due to the removal of a biological memory system developed over the ages to ensure their survival and propagation. Modern dams and netting practices prevent the fish from returning to previously established spawning routes. Over time this practice has altered the memory of the species and therefore diminished the number previously documented in the Nashwaak river system.
This process has been documented as being problematic in other locations around the world; as Ellen Wohl points out, "Similar attempts either to provide fish passage around a dam or to breed fish in a hatchery have been dismal failures for salmon and other species in the United States."[4]
The Nashwaak Watershed Association Incorporated (NWAI) is a non-profit organization established in 1995 to promote, protect, and restore the water, land, flora, and fauna within the Nashwaak watershed.[5] Its programs include silver maple floodplain forest restoration, fish passage restoration (culvert remediation/removal, dam removal), species-at-risk monitoring (including Inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon and bank swallows),
Notable achievements of the organization include the removal of the over a century old Campbell Creek dam, and the designation of the Marysville Flats area as a conservation easement.