Fisheries and Oceans Canada's "Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence planning area" covers most of theEstuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence bioregion, an area with some of the warmest surface waters inAtlantic Canada during summer and the largest amount of sea ice during winter. The planning area is approximately 240,000 km².[4]
Strait of Canso[20] is located betweenCape Breton Island and mainlandNova Scotia, it originally served as an outlet 1.0 km (0.6 mi) wide and 60 m (200 ft) deep at its deepest.[21][22] Due to the construction of theCanso Causeway across the strait in 1955, the roadway no longer allows exchange of water between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and theAtlantic Ocean.[23]
Bathymetry of the gulf, with the Laurentian Channel visible
TheLaurentian Channel is a feature of the floor of the Gulf that was formed duringprevious ice ages, when theContinental Shelf was eroded by the St. Lawrence River during the periods when the sea level plunged. The Laurentian Channel is about 290 m (950 ft) deep and about 1,250 km (780 mi) long from the Continental Shelf to the mouth of theSt. Lawrence River. Deep waters with temperatures between 2 and 6.5 °C (36 and 44 °F) enter the Gulf at the continental slope and are slowlyadvected up the channel by estuariane circulation.[24] Over the 20th century, the bottom waters of the end of the channel (i.e. in the St. Lawrence estuary) have becomehypoxic.[25]
Basque settlements and sites dating from the 16th and 17th centuries
The gulf has provided a historically important marine fishery for variousFirst Nations that have lived on its shores for millennia and used its waters for transportation.[26][27][28][citation needed]
The first documented voyage by a European in its waters was by the French explorerJacques Cartier in the year1534. Cartier named the shores of theSt. Lawrence River "The Country of Canadas", after an indigenous word meaning "village" or "settlement", thus naming the world's second largest country.[29]
Basque whalers fromSaint-Jean-de-Luz sailed into the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1530 and began whaling atRed Bay.[30] They established their base on theStrait of Belle Isle[14] and worked closely with theIroquois in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In 1579 the English government closed all English ports to Spanish oil imports. As a result, a third of Basquewhale oil could not be sold. Basque whaling collapsed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and never recovered.
In winter, large quantities of ice form in theSt. Lawrence River. Ice formation begins in December betweenMontreal andQuebec City. Theprevailing winds andcurrents push this ice towards the estuary, generally reaching east ofLes Méchins around the end of December. Ice covers the entire gulf in January and February.[32]
Ice aids in navigation, preventing the formation of waves and therefore spray, thus having the advantage of preventing the icing process of ships.[32]
Almost all of Quebec's ports are located along theSt. Lawrence River seaway, from its source to its gulf, to theAtlantic Ocean. There are dozens and dozens of shelters, harbors,natural ports, large and small along the gulf up to the source of the St. Lawrence River, we can add village or individualwharf, without forgetting the largeinternational maritime transport ports. In its annual report on maritime traffic in Canada, the Federal Bureau of Statistics gives detailed annual statistics for the years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023[33][34]
In Quebec, since March 31, 2024, the network of protected areas[42][43] extends over 274,431 km2 and is established as follows:
Continental environment (terrestrial and fresh water): 255,377 km2 or 16.89%;
Marine and coastal environments: 18,991 km2 or 12.21% distributed as follows:
Marine protected areas and territories set aside in the marine environment: 16,140 km2 or 10.39%;
Portions of territories in marine and coastal environments associated with protected areas whose conservation objectives do not specifically target the marine environment (national parks, national park reserves of Quebec and Canada, migratory bird sanctuaries, planned aquatic reserves, reserves of projected biodiversity, areas of concentration of aquatic birds, etc.): 2,854 km2 or 1.84%;
^"Pointe-des-Monts Lighthouse".Gouvernement of Quebec (in French). Commission de Toponymy Quebec. 7 May 2003. Retrieved18 September 2024.This lighthouse is located in Baie-Trinité, in the hamlet of Pointe-des-Monts; it was classified as a monument and historic site on September 8, 1965.
^Claudine Loiselle; Jean Raveneau (December 1997)."The Environmental Atlas of the St. Lawrence"(PDF).Environnement Canada, Geography department. Université Laval. pp. 34 of 67. Retrieved21 February 2024.A River, Estuaries, a Gulf: The Great Hydrographic Divisions of the St. Lawrence
^ab"Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence".Government of Canada. Fisheries and Oceans Canada. 2023-01-27. Retrieved19 February 2024.The area represents one of the largest and most productive estuarine/marine ecosystems in Canada and in the world.
^Jean-Claude Therriault (2012)."The Gulf od St. Lawrence: Small Ocean or Big Estuary"(PDF).Fischeries and Oceans Canada (in French and English). Canadian special Publication of Fischeries and Aquatic Science. p. 359. Retrieved21 February 2024.the Gulf must be considered a complete and coherent systern: for example, what happens in the Gaspé current cannot be completely isolated from the phenomena that occur elsewhere. The degree of interdependence of the various areas remains to be explored.
^"St. Lawrence River and Seaway". Great Lakes Commission. Retrieved22 February 2024.. . . can be divided into three broad sections: the freshwater river, which extends from Lake Ontario to just outside the city of Quebec; the St. Lawrence estuary, which extends from Quebec to Anticosti Island; and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which leads into the Atlantic Ocean
^"St Lawrence River". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved22 February 2024.According to the Royal Proclamation of 1763, a line from the mouth of Rivière St-Jean on the north shore past the western tip of Île d'Anticosti to Cap des Rosiers on Gaspé marks the end of the river and the beginning of the gulf.
^Lionel Groulx (1960)."History of French Canada since the Discovery"(PDF) (in French). Fides, Montreal and Paris. pp. 16 of 404. Retrieved23 February 2024.In the absence of decisive, first-hand documents, historians and cartographers can only assert probabilities.
^Jean-Claude Therriault."The Gulf of St. Lawrence: Small Ocean or Big Estuary"(PDF) (in English and French). Fisheries and Oceans Canada. p. 359. Retrieved23 February 2024.The Gulf of St. Lawrence contains a wide range of hydrodynamic conditions including seasonal ice cover, polynyas, fronts, gyres, freshwater input and influences, and large seasonal variations in vertical stratification.
^"Gulf of St. Lawrence".Encyclopedia Britannica. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. 2024-02-20. Retrieved23 February 2024.
^"Gulf of St. Lawrence".Commission de toponymie Quebec (in French). Government of Quebec. 1968-12-05. Retrieved23 February 2024.Sixteenth-century cartographers, historians and memorialists were most often inspired by the Spanish and Italian translations of the Brief récit, and not by the original French published in 1545 to impose the toponym Gulf of St. Lawrence
^"Pointe des Monts".Commission de toponymie Quebec (in French). Government of Quebec. 1968-12-05. Retrieved24 February 2024.These points serve as a boundary between the Estuary of the St. Lawrence River upstream and the much wider Gulf of St. Lawrence downstream
^"Gulf of St. Lawrence"(PDF).Limits of Oceans and Seas. International Hydrographic organization. 1953. pp. 14 of 42. Retrieved19 February 2024.Limits of Oceans and Seas
^abc"Strait of Belle Isle".Gouvernement of Quebec (in French). Commission de Toponymy Quebec. 13 December 1988. Retrieved14 August 2024.In addition to Grande Bay, this arm of the sea had notably borne the names of Friar Lewis, on maps from 1505, then Gulf of Chasteaulx, Charles Streights and Passage du Nord which a cartographer describes as "subject to Glaces" later in the 16th and during the 17th century.
^"The Pointe-des-Monts Lighthouse" (in French). Corporation de Promotion et de Développement du site du Phare historique de Pointe‑des‑Monts. 2024. Retrieved25 February 2024.Built on a rocky outcrop that forms an islet at high tide, the lighthouse bears witness to a time when navigation in the Gulf of St. Lawrence was perilous.
^Edward F. Bush (1975)."The Canadian Lighthouse"(PDF). National Historic Parks and Sites, Branch, Indian and Northern Affairs. pp. 55 of 188. Retrieved25 February 2024.The first lighthouse, completed in 1830, had walls six feet thick at the base, tapering to two feet at the lantern deck.20
^"Honguedo Strait, toponymy".Gouvernement of Quebec (in French). Commission de Toponymy Quebec. 5 December 1968. Retrieved22 September 2024.The Commission de géographie du Québec, now the Commission de toponymie, adopted this toponym in 1934 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Jacques Cartier in New France.
^Canadian Hydrographic Service (16 April 2024)."ATL 104: Cape North to Cape Canso (including Bras d'Or Lake)"(PDF).Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Canadian Sailing Directions. pp. 9 of 95. Retrieved16 August 2024.St. Paul Island presents the only danger in the Cabot strait. Mariners are advised to navigate with caution during periods of reduced visibility.
^"Strait of Canso - Map"(PDF).Water Resources, Nova Scotia. Strait of Canso Environment Committee. 1975. Retrieved17 August 2024.From George Bay to Chedabucto Bay
^Strait of Canso Environment Committee (1975)."Water Resources"(PDF). p. 33.The Strait is relatively narrow, varying in width from 800 m to 2,000 m (2,600 to 6,600 ft.), although it is most commonly 1,600 m (1 mile) wide throughout the 27 km (17 mi.) length.
^Gary L. Bugden; Brent A. Law; Edward P.W. Horne; Shawn E. Roach (2020)."Flow through the Canso Causeway"(PDF).Fischeries and Oceans Canada (in English and French). Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. pp. 21 of 55. Retrieved16 August 2024.Although blocked in the 1950's by the Canso Causeway, Canso Strait could potentially be a transport pathway for the spread of Malpeque Disease
^"Canso Causeway - Road to the Isles". Canada's Digital collections. Retrieved16 August 2024.The mile long eighty foot wide man-made causeway is known as the deepest in the world
^Galbraith, P.S., Pettipas, R.G., Chassé, J., Gilbert, D., Larouche, P., Pettigrew, B., Gosselin, A., Devine, L. and Lafleur, C. 2009. Physical Oceanographic Conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 2008. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Res. Doc. 2009/014. iv + 69 p.
^Gilbert, D., B. Sundby, C. Gobeil, A. Mucci and G.-H. Tremblay. 2005. A seventy-two-year record of diminishing deep-water oxygen in theSt. Lawrence estuary: The northwest Atlantic connection. Limnol. Oceanogr., 50(5): 1654–1666.
^"A Brief History of the Gulf Region"(PDF).Fisheries Peches and Ocean Canada. Gulf region. 1991. p. 14. Retrieved10 August 2024.We must manage the Gulf fishery as a biological reality, not as a battlefield for provincial ambitions
^"Action River, Discovering the St. Lawrence"(PDF). Government of Canada. 24 November 2015. pp. 7 of 32. Retrieved14 August 2024.The Aboriginal people were the first to benefit from the abundant resources of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence: water, game, fish and marine mammals.
^Christian Gates St-Pierre (9 July 2017)."Iroquoians in the St. Lawrence River Valley before European Contact"(PDF). p. 18. Retrieved14 August 2024.At the time of contact with the first Europeans, the St. Lawrence Iroquoians occupied a territory that extended from the mouth of Lake Ontario to the Cap Tourmente area, near Quebec City, with a southward extension to the northern tip of Lake Champlain, as well as seasonal extensions into the estuary and the gulf of St. Lawrence. D
^abGuy O'Bonsawin (3 April 2013)."The secrets of the Saint-Laurent, marine weather guide"(PDF) (in French). Environnement Canada. pp. 89, 90 of 100. Retrieved15 October 2024.If you consider that both water and air masses literally hug the ground and follow all its contours and surfaces, it's easy to understand just how much variety there can be in wind and sea conditions.
^abPierre Camu (1959)."Ports in the province of Quebec"(PDF).Quebec geography notebooks (in French). Department of Geography at Laval University - Erudit. pp. 3 of 10. Retrieved13 October 2024.Ports of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, on the Côte-Nord Shore: Blanc-Sablon, Harrington Harbor, Natashquan, Havre-Saint-Pierre, Mingan, Port-Menier (Anticosti Island), Cap-aux-Meules (Îles-de-la -Madeleine)
^"Western Honguedo Strait Coral Conservation Area".Gouvernement of Canada. Fisheries and Oceans Canada. 9 September 2019. Retrieved23 September 2024.High concentrations of these soft corals create habitat with complex structures that provide refuge, feeding, and rearing areas for many marine species, thus supporting greater biodiversity.
^"Cold Water Corals and Sponges".Gouvernement of Canada. Fisheries and Oceans Canada. 2012.They provide the complex habitat structure that is important to invertebrates, fish and other deep sea life. High-complexity sponge reefs are associated with a greater abundance and diversity of species.
^Zydler, Tom (18 October 2018)."Cruising Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence".Cruising World. Retrieved12 March 2023.As I stepped ashore onto a blanket-size piece of sand, I realized I was probably trespassing; landing on the island requires an official permit from the Canadian coast guard.
^ab"Parks Canada". Government of Canada. 2024. Retrieved13 August 2024.There are 37 national parks and 11 national park reserves in Canada that represent 31 of Canada's 39 terrestrial natural regions and protect approximately 343,377 square kilometers of lands in Canada.
^"Protected areas in Quebec" (in French). Ministère de l'Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs. 2024. Retrieved13 August 2024.Protected areas are also recognized as an essential tool for adaptation to climate change. In particular, they allow carbon to be stored.
^"Map of protected areas in Quebec"(PDF) (in French). Environment and Climate Change Canada. March 2024. Retrieved13 August 2024.Protected areas register database, 2024 Ministry of Environment and Ecological reference framework, 2018 adapted
^"Network of protected areas in Quebec" (in French). Environment and Climate Change Canada. 2024. Retrieved13 August 2024.The Register of Protected Areas in Quebec constitutes a unique and integrated reference for Quebec in terms of protected areas, both within the meaning of the Natural Heritage Conservation Act and the recommendations of the International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN).
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