​One of Coastal Action’s most successful community engagement projects was our “Clean Boating Campaign” (2000-2005), which the Canadian Safe Boating Council recognized as Environmental Campaign of the Year in 2003. This project encouraged recreational boaters to install holding tanks rather than continuing to discharge raw sewage directly into Lunenburg County’s coastal waters. The campaign included the installation of four sewage pump-out facilities in the towns of Mahone Bay, Lunenburg, and Bridgewater, as well as the Village of Chester. From 2000 to 2005, approximately 1,100 boaters pumped out their holding tanks using Coastal Action’s sewage pump-out stations equating to approximately 155,000 L of untreated sewage being diverted from Canadian waters. After our project, the four pump-out stations were turned over to our partners for continued operation and management. Through this project, Coastal Action developed the popular Maritime Clean Boating Guide as well as our Mahone Bay and LaHave River maps.
For more information please contact our Executive Director, Brooke Nodding, at brooke@coastalaction.org.