Yacht club fined for destroying 40 birds' nests

The Pointe-du-Chêne Yacht Club has been fined $6,500 for destroying bank swallow nests. 

A guilty plea was entered on the club's behalf on Feb. 7 in a Moncton provincial court, according to a statement issued by Environment Canada.

About 40 nests were destroyed in June when the club was repairing its breakwater, which was damaged by a storm surge last winter.

The federal government said a member of the public reported the issue of the destroyed nests to the federal government.

The bank swallow is a small migratory songbird protected under the Migratory Birds Act. 

The bird's population has been in significant decline across Canada and the United States since 1980.

But, the federal government said, the number of bank swallows has dropped significantly in New Brunswick. The Bank Swallow population has decreased by almost 22 per cent per year between 1989 and 2009.

Bank Swallows build their nests on vertical or near-vertical banks and bluffs along rivers, lakes and oceans, according to Environment Canada.

The federal agency said between 10 and 2,000 nests can be in a colony.