By blocking the bore, the causeway forced it back on itself, and the silt that once hurtled upriver settled in the lower reaches of the Petitcodiac. It created a huge plain of greasy mud, and turned the river into a sluggish, unnavigable joke. The Tidal Bore deteriorated until the locals called it the Total Bore.

American humorist, Erma Bombeck, drove across North America with her family to see what they expected to be a thrilling natural phenomenon. When they reached Moncton, she wrote, "A trickle of brown water, barely visible, slowly edged its way up the river toward us with all the excitement of a stopped-up toilet...I retained more water than that...It was a long time before anyone spoke. About 5,000 miles to be exact."

The spawning journeys of Atlantic salmon are among nature's most inspiring dramas, but on the Petitcodiac, the drama became a nightmare. During the first spring after the causeway arrived, Monctonians walked to the mudflats to collect stranded salmon by hand.

According to one theory, affluent people built handsome houses on an upriver lake that the causeway created, and see opening the gates as a threat to their properties. Some commercial fisherman also want the gates to stay closed. By keeping silt near Moncton, the causeway actually improved downriver fisheries for lobsters and scallops, which don't like mud.

So, the fishermen say, in effect, "Don't mess with the messed-up river."