Plan St-Laurent - Pour un développement durable

• The St. Lawrence
  River in good hands
  • Governmental
    actions
  • St. Lawrence Plan
  • Phase IV 2005-2010
  • Coordination Committees
    • Agriculture
    • Access to Riverbanks
    • Community Involvement and Awareness
    • Ecological Integrity
    • Navigation
    • Monitoring the State of the St. Lawrence River

Navigation Coordination Committee

Background

Between 1988 and 1998, a number of studies were conducted on the environmental impact of commercial shipping and recreational boating engaged in by the St. Lawrence Plan’s various stakeholders. However, it was not until 1998 that the first Navigation Coordination Committee was set up, providing an opportunity to deal with navigation-related environmental issues in a concerted and well-organized manner.

For its first endeavour under the St. Lawrence Plan, the Navigation Coordination Committee set its sights high: it aimed for the implementation of measures to promote navigation consistent with the sustainable development of the St. Lawrence, while reconciling economic development and the health of ecosystems. The Committee achieved its objective in 2004 with the unveiling of its Sustainable Navigation Strategy for the St. Lawrence, a mammoth project made possible thanks to the climate of dialogue and cooperation that exists among Committee members.

With the Strategy, the Navigation Coordination Committee now has a dozen or so broad principles that can be used to guide decisions. In addition, the Strategy also defines the eight priority issues on which the Committee will focus. For each issue, an action plan extending to 2010 has been developed.

Mandate

The Navigation Coordination Committee’s mandate is to harmonize shipping and boating practices with the protection of St. Lawrence ecosystems. This action plan constitutes Phase I of the Strategy’s implementation. The goal of Phase IV is to implement and enhance the Sustainable Navigation Strategy for the St. Lawrence.

Composition

The Committee is made up of over 25 members representing the governments of Quebec and Canada, the shipping and port industries, recreational boating, and community and environmental groups.

The federal and Quebec departments involved in the navigation component are the following.

Canada	Québec
Environment Canada Fisheries and Oceans Canada Transports Canada	Ministère du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et des Parcs Ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune Ministère des Transports Tourisme Québec

The public organizations involved in the navigation component are the following:

Shipping St. Lawrence Ship Operators Montréal Port Authority Shipping Federation of Canada Corporation of Mid St. Lawrence Pilots Inc. St. Lawrence Economic Development Council

Boating Quebec Sailing Federation

Riverside communities, environmental groups and others Les Amis de la vallée du Saint-Laurent ZIP du lac Saint-Pierre (Lake St. Pierre Area of Prime Concern) Union des municipalités du Québec Nature Québec (formerly the Union québécoise pour la conservation de la nature)

Targeted results

To implement and enhance the Sustainable Navigation Strategy for the St. Lawrence, the Navigation Coordination Committee targets the following results:

1. maintain cooperation among shipping and boating stakeholders in relation to broad issues affecting the St. Lawrence;
2. raise the awareness of the public and decision makers about the pros and cons of shipping and boating;
3. implement the integrated management of dredging and sediments;
4. evaluate commercial shipping’s options for adapting to a possible drop in water levels;
5. prevent the impact of wash from ships and watercraft in sensitive areas of the St. Lawrence;
6. improve the management of wastewater discharge and cargo waste;
7. reduce the risk of introducing exotic species for all types of ships; and
8. encourage riverside communities to cooperate with emergency response specialists in the event of hazardous product spills.

Overview of the Committee’s work

The Planning Registry for Dredging Activities on the St. Lawrence now online (2009/10/16)

Ships have reduced their speed (2007/12/19)

Commercial navigation – A study on adaptations to water level fluctuations (2007/04/26)

Sustainable Navigation Strategy for the St. Lawrence River - Harmony between navigation and the natural environment (2007/04/26)

Faivre, J. and Bouchard, G. 2001. Shipping industry introduces a concrete measure for reducing shoreline erosion. Transports Québec, Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Le Fleuve newsletter. 11(9):1–3.

Faivre, J. and Mazaudier L. 2001. Comparative analysis of the environmental pressures associated with shipping in the St. Lawrence corridor. Transports Québec, Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Le Fleuve newsletter. 11(10): 4–5.

Lee, K. and Tremblay G.-H. 2000. Bacteria to the rescue
of oil-soaked aquatic vegetation. Maurice Lamontagne Institute, Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Le Fleuve newsletter. 11(3): 1–3.

Faivre, J. and Bouchard G. 1999. Concerted Action for Sustainable Marine Navigation. Transports Québec, Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Le Fleuve newsletter. 10(6): 1–3.

Faivre, J. and Bouchard G. 1999. Environmental and Economic Considerations: An Integral Part of Marine Navigation. Transports Québec, Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Le Fleuve newsletter.  10(6): 4–5.

Publications stemming from the Committee’s work

Environnement Canada/Environment Canada, Ministère du développement durable, de l'Environnement et des Parcs du Québec 2007. Criteria for the Assessment of Sediment Quality in Quebec and Application Framework: Prevention, Dredging and Remediation. St. Lawrence Plan, 39 p.

D'Arcy, P., Bibeault, J.-F. and Raffa R. 2005. Climate change and marine transportation on the St. Lawrence River. Exploratory Study of adaptation options. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Environment Canada, St. Lawrence Plan. 140 p.

Sustainable Navigation Strategy for the St. Lawrence River 2004. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Ministère des Transports du Québec, Transport Canada, Environment Canada, Ministère de l'Environnement du Québec, Ministère des Ressources naturelles, Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary. (PDF format.)

Orientation Document on Integrated Management of Dredging on the St. Lawrence River 2004. Supporting document for the Sustainable Navigation Strategy of the Navigation Consensus Building Committee. Working Group on the Integrated Management of Dredging and Dediments. (PDF Format.)

Lehoux, D. 2001. The St. Lawrence Shoreline Between Cornwall and Montmagny. Navigation Coordination Committee SLP, Environment Canada, Ministère des Transports du Québec, James Bay Energy Corporation, Ducks Unlimited, ARGUS.

Dauphin, D. 2000. Influence de la navigation commerciale et de la navigation de plaisance sur l’érosion des rives du Saint-Laurent dans le tronçon Cornwall-Montmagny. Environment Canada, Ministère des Transports du Québec. 193 p. (French only)

Topics of interest

The shipping industry adopts an environmental program (2007/12/19)

Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Study (2007/12/19)

Tour on greening the marine transport industry ( 2007/12/19)

Environment Canada. 2002. Sediment Sampling Guide for Dredging and Marine Engineering Projects on the St. Lawrence River. Environmental Protection Branch, Environment Canada. 105 p.

Environment Canada. 2002. Sediment Sampling Guide for Dredging and Marine Engineering Projects on the St. Lawrence River – Volume 2. Field Operations Manual. Environmental Protection Branch, Environment Canada. 106 p.

To display a list of all the documents that have been published by the Navigation component since Phase II of the St Lawrence Plan, follow this link to the Library page of the St. Lawrence Plan web site, then click the Components list box, choose Navigation, and click the Search button.