Cascumpec Bay is within
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...
in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and is adjacent to the
Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
Description
Cascumpec Bay is located where Prince Edward Island's north shore at its northwestern extreme turns northeasterly to become the east shore of the island's Northeast Peninsula. The bay covers an area of approximately and is relatively shallow. Cascumpec Bay fronts the
Gulf of Saint Lawrence along its eastern side but is protected from gulf by a series of sandy barrier islands. Most of the protection is provided by the Cascumpec Sand Hills, a single long barrier island given its name because of its extensive sand dunes. Several estuaries are located along the landward sides of the bay, including the Kildare River, Mill River, Foxely River and Trout River. The lands at the south end of the bay east of the Foxely River are almost entirely composed of
peat
Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...
and are known locally as the Black Banks. Apart from the Black Banks, the Sand Hills, and most other islands, the rest of the land surrounding the bay is largely devoted to
intensive agriculture
Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming (as opposed to extensive farming), conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per unit of ag ...
.
Alberton Harbour is a northern lobe of Cascumpec Bay, separated from the main body of the bay by Oultons Island. Alberton Harbour has its own passage into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence between the north end of the Sand Hills and the south extreme of Kildare Point, a sand spit that directs the Kildare River into the harbour instead of into the gulf. The passage made Alberton Harbour an attractive shelter during the age of sailing and encouraged local seafaring settlements. On the west side of Alberton Harbour opposite the passage is the town of
Alberton with about 1100 residents. Also on the harbour is Northport, a fishing village to the south of Alberton with about 250 residents. These are the only two incorporated settlements near Cascumpec Bay.
Name origin
The name Cascumpec originated as the
Mi'kmaq
The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the northe ...
name "Kaskamkek", which means "bold sandy shore". In the 18th century, the name mutated slightly to the French name "Cachecampec", and then to the English adaptation "Kascumpeck". Since then, the pronunciation has changed very little, but the current spelling was settled only in 1966.
Bird habitat
Cascumpec Bay ecosystem is identified by Nature Canada as an
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations.
IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
. Of particular interest are its use for migration staging by large numbers of migrating
Canada geese, and as nesting habitat for
great blue heron
The great blue heron (''Ardea herodias'') is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North America and Central America, as well as the Caribbean and the Galápagos ...
and
osprey
The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...
. Also, the Cascumpec Sand Hills sometimes host nests of
piping plover
The piping plover (''Charadrius melodus'') is a small sand-colored, sparrow-sized shorebird that nests and feeds along coastal sand and gravel beaches in North America. The adult has yellow-orange-red legs, a black band across the forehead from e ...
and colonies of
common tern.
See also
*
Malpeque Bay
Notes
References
*
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{{coord, 46, 46, N, 64, 3, W, display=title
Landforms of Prince County, Prince Edward Island
Important Bird Areas of Prince Edward Island
Bays of Prince Edward Island