The St. Lawrence Estuary is a collective gem, both culturally and naturally. The project involves expanding the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park to help protect a larger part of its estuary. Some 400 km long and up to 350 m deep, it is one of the largest and deepest estuaries in the world.
The proposed expansion would thus bring the Marine Park's total surface area to 4,487 km2, i.e. 3.6 times its current size. It is proposed to expand the park's boundaries to the river's south shore, reaching the administrative regions of Chaudière-Appalaches and Bas-Saint-Laurent, from the municipality of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli to Bic National Park. On the river's north shore, according to this proposal, the Marine Park would extend within the two administrative regions already bordering the park in its current configuration, i.e. Capitale-Nationale and Côte-Nord. The proposed expansion extends from the municipality of Petite-Rivière-Saint-François to Boisvert Point in the municipality of Longue-Rive.
The expansion project involves 4 administrative regions, 8 RCMs and 27 coastal municipalities. The Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk First Nation community would border the enlarged Marine Park, in the same way that the Essipit Innu First Nation community does under the park's current boundaries. When combined with the current Marine Park, the expanded park would concern a total of 37 municipalities and 2 adjacent Indigenous communities. The number of citizens residing in a municipality bordering the Marine Park would rise from 19,000 to over 125,500.
As is the case for the current Marine Park, the planned expansion includes the water column and the seabeds. The area extends to the normal high-water marks, i.e. the maritime boundary delimitation of Quebec public lands. Islands, private property and maritime infrastructure (ports and marinas) are excluded from the proposal. For maritime facilities that do not have a submerged shore lot, a 25 m radius exclusion around infrastructure is planned.
Elements of Ecological Interest
In the estuary, the salt waters of the Atlantic mix with the fresh waters of the St. Lawrence, giving rise to a mosaic of habitats that support a wide array of fauna and flora. The territory proposed for the enlargement represents a tremendous ecological treasure. Although a number of elements are of ecological interest, the project would especially help strengthen protection for belugas, rorquals and coastal herbaceous areas. The targeted expansion area includes:
· The beluga's entire critical summer habitat;
· Important feeding grounds for rorquals; and
· Fragile coastal habitats such as salt marshes and eelgrass beds.
