• Arctic SDI catalogue
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Beluga whale critical habitat in the Saguenay River and the St. Lawrence Estuary

The Beluga whale critical habitat, which includes the Upper Estuary, the Saguenay River up to Sainte-Marguerite Bay, and the southern channel of the Lower Estuary, supports the vital functions of calving and rearing of the young.

Due to the lack of information, studies are planned in the near future to increase knowledge of the species. Critical habitat actual limitations could change someday.

Purpose

The beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) population in the St. Lawrence Estuary was greatly reduced by hunting, which was finally banned in the St. Lawrence in 1979. In May 2005, this beluga population was officially listed as a threatened species on SARA’s List of Wildlife Species at Risk.

Additional Information

St. Lawrence beluga critical habitat is identified using the best available information. All the available information on its prey, seasonal distribution, use and characteristics of its habitat has been reviewed by Mosnier (2010). This literature review was used to produce a science advisory report reviewed by marine mammal experts. Beluga whale critical habitat has been identified with the information and the scientific advice, using the area of occupancy approach and corresponds to the summer distribution of groups made up of adults and new-born calves and juveniles.

Mosnier, A., Lesage, V., Gosselin, J.-F., Lemieux Lefebvre, S., Hammill, M. O., Doniol-Valcroze, T. 2010. Information relevant to the documentation of habitat use by St. Lawrence beluga (Delphinapterus leucas), and quantification of habitat quality. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec., Res. Doc. 2009/098. iv + 35 p.

DFO. 2012. Recovery Strategy for the beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) St. Lawrence Estuary population in Canada. Species at Risk Act Recovery Strategy Series. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Ottawa. 88 pp + X pp.

Simple

Date ( RI_366 )
2012
Date ( RI_367 )
2012
RI_418
  Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Division de la gestion des espèces en péril / Species at Risk Management Division ( )
850, route de la Mer, P.O. Box 1000 , Mont-Joli , Quebec , G5H 3Z4 , Canada
1-877-775-0848
Status
completed; complété RI_593
Maintenance and update frequency
continual; continue RI_532
Keywords ( RI_530 )
  • Critical Habitat
  • Threatened Species
  • Beluga Whale
  • Delphinapterus leucas
Keywords ( RI_525 )
  • Upper Estuary of St. Lawrence
  • Lower Estuary of St. Lawrence
  • St. Lawrence Estuary
  • Saguenay River
  • Tadoussac
  • Baie Sainte-Marguerite
  • La Haute-Côte-Nord
Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus Thésaurus des sujets de base du gouvernement du Canada ( RI_528 )
  • Earth sciences
  • Marine biology
Classification
unclassified; nonClassifié RI_484
Use limitation
Open Government Licence - Canada (http://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada)
Access constraints
license; licence RI_606
Use constraints
license; licence RI_606
Spatial representation type
vector; vecteur RI_635
Metadata language
fra; CAN
Metadata language
eng; CAN
Character set
utf8; utf8 RI_458
Topic category
  • Oceans
  • Environment
  • Biota
Begin date
1986
End date
2012
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Reference system identifier
EPSG / EPSG:4617 / 7.4.1
Distribution format
  • ESRI REST ( 10.3.1 )

RI_414
  Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Olivier Parent ( Geomatics analyst )
850, route de la Mer, P.O. Box 1000 , Mont-Joli , Quebec , G5H 3Z4 , Canada
OnLine resource
Critical Habitat of Species at Risk ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;fra

OnLine resource
Critical Habitat of Species at Risk ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;HTML;eng

OnLine resource
Beluga essential habitat ( HTTPS )

Dataset;SHP;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Beluga essential habitat ( ESRI REST: Map Service )

Web Service;ESRI REST;eng

OnLine resource
Beluga essential habitat ( ESRI REST: Map Service )

Web Service;ESRI REST;fra

File identifier
fdfef550-b94c-466c-9dcb-24c297c00e3e XML
Metadata language
fra; CAN
Character set
utf8; utf8 RI_458
Parent identifier
Significant parameters for different species with status under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) 4c7880ac-cb01-4e12-8305-2ae8eb675390
Hierarchy level
dataset; jeuDonnées RI_622
Date stamp
2025-02-06T12:40:24.298Z
Metadata standard name
North American Profile of ISO 19115:2003 - Geographic information - Metadata
Metadata standard version
CAN/CGSB-171.100-2009
RI_420
  Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Section Gestion de données - Direction des avis, information et soutien scientifiques ( )
850, route de la Mer, P.O. Box 1000 , Mont-Joli , Quebec , G5H 3Z4 ,
 
 

Overviews

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Spatial extent

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Keywords


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