Overview of the State of the St. Lawrence River

In the last few centuries, human beings have exploited, transformed and polluted the St. Lawrence. It is only in the past thirty years that protection and conservation efforts have been introduced. What is the state of the St. Lawrence now, as we enter the 21st century? How is the river evolving: have things begun to improve or are they continuing to deteriorate? To answer these questions, a long-term program to monitor the state of the St. Lawrence was developed and launched in February 2003 within the framework of the St. Lawrence Action Plan, a Canada–Quebec co-operation agreement.

The information gathered in the course of ongoing monitoring activities is used to achieve an overview of the state of the St. Lawrence. For this purpose, environmental indicators pertaining to water, sediments and biological resources have been identified. Other data shed light on human use of the river for swimming or fishing for personal consumption.

The first part of this document describes the State of the St. Lawrence Monitoring Program. The second part deals with the state of the St. Lawrence and how the river is evolving. Part three focuses on toxic contamination. Finally, part four discusses future prospects for the St. Lawrence.

The present overview is based on the indicators covered by the 16 fact sheets that accompany this document. The indicators point to some overall improvement in the state of the St. Lawrence. However, the data also reflect the vulnerability of this environment, particularly with respect to water quality, certain wildlife species and wetlands.

The Overview of the State of the St. Lawrence River (PDF Format)