Research Document - 2007/046
Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) in the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence – A marine mammal perspective
By Lesage, V., J.-F. Gosselin, M. Hammill, M.C.S. Kingsley and J. Lawson
Abstract
The importance of some areas of the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence for the aggregation for marine mammals is a long-recognized phenomenon. In this report, results from three aerial surveys and two satellite-telemetry studies are analysed and combined with results from the existing literature to identify known areas of concentration of marine mammals. The quality of areas of marine mammal concentration and associated functions are assessed against criteria developed to identify Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs). Based on these criteria, there would be eleven areas of ecological and biological significance for marine mammals: 1) Pointe-des-Monts to Sept-Îles, 2) West of Anticosti, 3) Jacques-Cartier Strait, 4) Strait of Belle-Isle/Mecatina Plateau, 5) Western shelf of Newfoundland, 6) Entrance of St Georges Bay, Newfoundland, 7) Cape Breton Trough, 8) Offshore Gaspé, including the channel of Baie des Chaleurs, 9) North margin of the Laurentian Channel to the south of Anticosti, 10) the St. Lawrence Estuary, and finally, 11) the Shelf of southern Gulf, which would find its importance mainly during the ice-covered period.
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