The governments of Quebec and Canada are reaffirming their commitment to expanding the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park to better protect the beluga’s habitat, even if the species is doing better than previously thought. Public consultations are planned for 2024, specify the parties involved in the project.
As part of the update of the state of the St. Lawrence beluga population, scientists concluded that an average estimate of 1850 individuals, with an established interval between 1530 and 2180. This species classified as “endangered disappearance” is therefore at least twice as numerous as we thought during the previous assessment, established in 2013.
This upward revision does not mean that belugas are more numerous, but rather that the experts have significantly improved their analysis of the many data taken into account in the context of their inventory work. And this does not change the “black series” of female and young mortalities, which compromises the recovery of the species, according to experts.
“Major” project
Despite the significant change in the population situation of the only resident cetacean of the St. Lawrence, the governments of Quebec and Canada reaffirm their commitment to expanding the Saguenay — St. Lawrence Marine Park.
“The expansion project is still planned,” assures the office of the Minister of the Environment, the Fight Against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks, Benoit Charette. “Consultation meetings with the partners and the circles concerned will take place in the coming months and public consultations are planned for 2024”, we specify in a written response to questions from the Duty.
“We are pleased to collaborate with the province of Quebec on this important project. The project will help us better protect species in the area, and will allow Quebecers, Canadians and tourists to benefit from a larger marine park,” added the office of the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault.
His department argues that the objective announced in March remains to “enhance the protection of a greater proportion of ecosystems representative of the St. Lawrence estuary, and more particularly of the critical habitat of the beluga, of which more than 60% is currently outside the limits of the marine park”. Protecting all critical beluga habitat is one of the six objectives of the beluga whale recovery strategy published in 2012 by the federal government.
Resilience
Environment and Climate Change Canada specifies by email that the expansion should make it possible to reduce the threats for the beluga “by extending the protection measures to feeding and resting areas”. The project should also improve the “resilience” of this population “in the face of habitat disturbances caused by climate change and the expected increase in maritime traffic”.
This protected area of 1245 km2, established in 1998 to improve habitat conservation for the beluga and several other species, should therefore quadruple in area in the coming years. The marine park would thus reach approximately 5000 km2.
The limits would thus extend to around L’Isle-aux-Coudres, upstream, and Trois-Pistoles, downstream, including the Cacouna sector, which is critical for the beluga. This means that the protected territory should reach the south shore of the St. Lawrence, which is not currently the case.
There would be no question of expanding the portion of the park located in the Saguenay River, where it already extends to Sainte-Rose-du-Nord, but the protected territory would probably extend downstream, along the North Shore. In this sector, fin whales and blue whales, cetaceans listed as endangered species in Canada, are frequently observed.