Research Document - 2007/014
Ecologically and biologically significant areas for demersal fishes in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence
By Castonguay, M. and S. Valois
Abstract
This report presents candidate ecologically and biologically significant areas for demersal fish (groundfish) species in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence. Spawning areas, regions of juvenile concentrations, feeding sites, migration routes, and seasonal refugia were evaluated according to their unicity, their concentration, and their consequences on adaptive significance. Of the eight zones selected, six were identified based on spatial distribution of juvenile stages in summer while a seventh was identified because of its species richness in summer and an eighth because it represents a known cod migratory corridor. The most important zones were the St. Lawrence maritime estuary, Newfoundland’s West Coast including the Esquiman Channel, and the Laurentian Channel in winter.
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