Quebec marine park to nearly quadruple in size in effort to protect belugas

Rachel Watts · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 07, 2025 12:46 PM EST | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

The Saguenay-Saint-Laurent Marine Park volition astir quadruple successful size arsenic portion of an enlargement task to assistance support fragile taxon located wherever the Saguenay River meets Quebec's St. Lawrence.

Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault announced the task successful collaboration with his provincial counterpart, Benoit Charette, astatine a associated quality league connected Friday.

Guilbeault says the park, which is located 250 kilometres northeast of Quebec City, could scope a full size of 4,500 quadrate kilometres — much than 3 and a fractional times its existent size.

The parkland enlargement would assistance support astir three per cent of Quebec's marine environment, including belugas, fin whales, bluish whales, oversea marshes and eelgrass beds.

"It is huge," said Guilbeault.

The parkland was archetypal created successful 1998 by provincial and national legislation. Currently, it protects astir 40 per cent of the beluga habitat, but Guilbeault says helium wants to spell further.

"One of the main criteria for the country that was chosen is to beryllium capable to support 100 per cent of the situation of beluga whales," said Guilbeault.

There are astir 900 belugas successful the St. Lawrence Estuary and the colonisation has been declining by astir 1 per cent each twelvemonth since the aboriginal 2000s, according to a 2018 study by the authorities of Canada.

Guilbeault says nationalist consultations suggested radical "massively support" the project, which volition besides link the 2 banks of the river.

In the coming 2 years, helium says the governments volition finalize each the remaining elements, including the outgo to run the park. He says some the national and provincial governments volition supply resources.

"We are not stopping here. There are different large projects that bring america together," said Charette.

The situation ministers besides announced the preliminary survey country for the Anticosti-Mingan Marine Park, located successful the country surrounding an land disconnected the bluish seashore of the Gaspé peninsula. The task could screen astir 14,000 quadrate kilometres and correspond a conservation summation of 8.4 per cent successful presumption of Quebec's protected marine country by 2030.

Both governments accidental they volition conscionable with stakeholders specified arsenic First Nations and coastal communities to stitchery opinions connected this conservation project.

The authorities says the Saguenay-Saint-Laurent Marine Park enlargement relies connected a co-ordinating committee made up of representatives from determination region municipalities bordering the park, the Essipit Innu First Nation, the Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk First Nation, arsenic good arsenic representatives from the subject and acquisition communities.

In a connection pursuing the announcement, main Pierre Picard of the Huron-Wendat First Nation successful Wendake, adjacent Quebec City, denounced the government's "disrespectful attitude," saying it is customary to invitation expansive chiefs to enactment during ceremonies oregon announcements successful its region.