For the riding which returns members to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick

Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick

The Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick is located in Fredericton. It was established de jure when the colony was created in 1784, but only came in to session in 1786 following the first elections in late 1785. Until 1891, it was the lower house in a bicameral legislature when its upper house...

, see Miramichi Bay-Neguac

Miramichi Bay-Neguac

Miramichi Bay-Neguac is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, Canada. It was formerly known more simply as Miramichi Bay....

Miramichi Bay is an estuary

Estuary

An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....

 located on the west coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in New Brunswick

New Brunswick

New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...

, at the mouth of the Miramichi River

Miramichi River

The Miramichi River is a Canadian river located in the east-central part of New Brunswick. The river drains into Miramichi Bay in the Gulf of St. Lawrence...

. Miramichi Bay is separated into the "inner bay" and the "outer bay", with the division being a line of uninhabited barrier island

Barrier island

Barrier islands, a coastal landform and a type of barrier system, are relatively narrow strips of sand that parallel the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from a few islands to more than a dozen...

s which are continually reshaped by ocean storms. The largest of these islands is the uninhabited Portage Island, which was broken in two during a violent storm in the 1950s. The islands provide some protection to the inner bay from ocean storms in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The Inner Miramichi Bay, and the lower portions of its tributary rivers (including the Miramichi River

Miramichi River

The Miramichi River is a Canadian river located in the east-central part of New Brunswick. The river drains into Miramichi Bay in the Gulf of St. Lawrence...

), are parts of a drowned river valley system. Since deglaciation, sea level rise in Miramichi Bay has flooded the mouths of these rivers with saltwater

Seawater

Seawater is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% . This means that every kilogram of seawater has approximately of dissolved salts . The average density of seawater at the ocean surface is 1.025 g/ml...

. The flooded, meandering, ancient Miramichi river channel forms a navigable route through the Inner Bay for ocean-going ships entering the port at Miramichi (formerly the ports of Chatham, New Brunswick

Chatham, New Brunswick

Chatham is a Canadian urban neighbourhood in the city of Miramichi, New Brunswick.Prior to municipal amalgamation in 1995, Chatham was an incorporated town in Northumberland County along the south bank of the Miramichi River opposite Douglastown...

 and Newcastle, New Brunswick

Newcastle, New Brunswick

Newcastle is a Canadian urban neighbourhood in the city of Miramichi, New Brunswick.Prior to municipal amalgamation in 1995, it was an incorporated town and the shire town of Northumberland County....

). The inner bay measures only 4 m deep on average, with the navigation channel measuring only 6–10 m. Since dredging maintenance of this channel has stopped, the port is now only accessible to ships with a shallow draft.

The estuary is a highly dynamic environment, subject to high freshwater outflows during the spring freshet

Freshet

A freshet can refer to one of two things:* A flood resulting from heavy rain or a spring thaw. Whereas heavy rain often causes a flash flood, a spring thaw event is generally a more incremental process, depending upon local climate and topography...

, low outflow and rising saltwater content during the summer period, fall ocean storms and nor'easter

Nor'easter

A nor'easter is a type of macro-scale storm along the East Coast of the United States and Atlantic Canada, so named because the storm travels to the northeast from the south and the winds come from the northeast, especially in the coastal areas of the Northeastern United States and Atlantic Canada...

s which reshape the barrier islands and the old river channel, and winter sea ice

Sea ice

Sea ice is largely formed from seawater that freezes. Because the oceans consist of saltwater, this occurs below the freezing point of pure water, at about -1.8 °C ....

 which encases the entire estuary. The shallow inner bay warms rapidly during summer. The diurnal

Diel

People with the surname Diel:* Charles Diel, former head men’s tennis coach at Louisiana State University* Paul Diel , French psychologistDiel may also refer to:* Diel vertical migration, common among deep-sea fish...

 tide cycle ranges only 1 m on average. Continued sea level rise is very slowly inundating adjacent low-lying areas and promoting rapid erosion of the low sandstone cliffs bordering the bay.

The estuary is significant in that it is a highly productive ecosystem, despite its relatively small size. The estuary receives the freshwater discharge from the Miramichi River and its tributaries, giving local waters somewhat lower salinity. Organic materials from the surrounding shorelines and inflowing rivers contribute, together with the warm water, to the bay's high productivity.

Marine life includes harbour seals, herring gulls

American Herring Gull

The American Herring Gull or Smithsonian Gull is a large gull which breeds in North America. It is often treated as a subspecies of the European Herring Gull but is now regarded as a separate species by some authorities.Adults are white with gray back and wings, black wingtips with white spots,...

, the common tern

Common Tern

The Common Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, breeding in temperate and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia and east and central North America. It is strongly migratory, wintering in coastal tropical and subtropical regions. It is sometimes...

 (pictars to use the old Scottish word), the great blue heron

Great Blue Heron

The Great Blue Heron is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America as well as the West Indies and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, with records from Spain, the Azores and England...

 (commonly called "crane" in the Miramichi), the common loon, and cormorant

Cormorant

The bird family Phalacrocoracidae is represented by some 40 species of cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed recently, and the number of genera is disputed.- Names :...

s (called "black shag" locally), with kingfisher

Belted Kingfisher

The Belted Kingfisher is a large, conspicuous water kingfisher, the only member of that group commonly found in the northern United States and Canada. It is depicted on the 1986 series Canadian $5 note. All kingfishers were formerly placed in one family, Alcedinidae, but recent research suggests...

s, plover

Plover

Plovers are a widely distributed group of wading birds belonging to the subfamily Charadriinae. There are about 40 species in the subfamily, most of them called "plover" or "dotterel". The closely related lapwing subfamily, Vanellinae, comprises another 20-odd species.Plovers are found throughout...

s, snipe

Snipe

A snipe is any of about 25 wading bird species in three genera in the family Scolopacidae. They are characterized by a very long, slender bill and crypsis plumage. The Gallinago snipes have a nearly worldwide distribution, the Lymnocryptes Jack Snipe is restricted to Asia and Europe and the...

 and killdeer

Killdeer

The Killdeer is a medium-sized plover.Adults have a brown back and wings, a white belly, and a white breast with two black bands. The rump is tawny orange. The face and cap are brown with a white forehead. They have an orange-red eyering...

along the shore.