Miramichi Lake cottage owners say they’ve been left in the dark about pesticide spraying plans | CBC News

Some cottage owners on Miramichi Lake say a group that’s been using a pesticide to kill invasive smallmouth bass has not properly communicated its plans with them.

Austin Greenlaw, who has lived on the lake for 30 years, is one of four locals who say they’ve been against the spraying of pesticide — which they refer to as “poison” — since it started last fall.

There are about 15 cottages around the lake, which covers two square kilometres and is located about 60 kilometres north of Fredericton.

“Nobody’s heard a thing,” said Greenlaw, calling it a “complete blackout” of information from the organization in charge, the Working Group on Smallmouth Bass Eradication in the Miramichi.

The group, which is made up of six different organizations, has been trying for the past three years to use the pesticide rotenone to kill invasive smallmouth bass before it takes over the habitat of salmon, trout and other species in the lake, and spreads to the Miramichi River.

A spokesperson for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans confirmed the working group’s permit for this project is valid until Dec. 31, 2026.

Neville Crabbe, the working group’s spokesperson, told CBC News last week there isn’t a plan to continue spraying, but the group was “in discussions” about the next step.

When asked if lake residents were well-informed about the spraying, Crabbe said yes. But a group of four cottagers said they feel differently. 

Scott Bell, a cottage owner who has lived on the lake his whole life, said when the project first was slated to go ahead in 2021, the working group was in communications with residents for the first year.

“Then they pretty much cut off communications and became very closed-mouth, secretive,” Bell said. “We’ve lost a lot of trust in Neville Crabbe.”

Crabbe did not return a request for an interview about the cottager’s concerns, but had told CBC News in an email last week that the working group would not be making any more public comments until there was clear direction on the project.

Greenlaw said this summer has been stressful, wondering when and if the spraying will continue.

“It’s not the same out here,” Greenlaw said, “Knowing that the hammer might be dropping.”

Bell has similar sentiments.

“I wake up in the middle of the night, thinking about it,” he said. “It’s always on your mind.”

Call for ‘sober second thought’

Greenlaw said he wants to know how many bass, the intended target, were killed in the first round of spraying last September, and how many other species, including salmon, were also killed. 

The working group sprayed rotenone on nearby waters, but still hasn’t sprayed the lake itself to complete the process.

Greenlaw said the residents aren’t anti-salmon, but they’d rather see other prevention measures like containment barriers, netting and electrofishing instead of spraying.

“It’s really like brain surgery with an axe to come in here and poison the lake,” said Greenlaw. 

The cottagers say they are advocating for a “sober second thought,” and that the project should be halted.

Greenlaw said he wants the working group’s plan to be studied more, adding that property values around the lake will be “decimated.”

But, he said, he feels that the group has invested too much to simply walk away.

“I think we all feel that this is going to continue until at some point no permits are signed and the thing just has to be put to bed.”