Overview of the State of the St. Lawrence
The State of the St. Lawrence Monitoring Program was established in 2003 under the Canada–Quebec Agreement on the St. Lawrence River. Since then, program partners have been pooling their expertise to report regularly on the state of the St. Lawrence and how it is changing. The results from environmental indicator monitoring are made available through the distribution of a series of fact sheets, the holding of the triennial Rendez-vous St. Lawrence event and the publication of a five-year global portrait.
Overview 2019
The St. Lawrence is doing well and its quality shows a positive trend, with improvement over time. In fact, a summary of the results of the monitoring indicators for the 2013-2017 period (2019 Overview) provides an overall assessment of “moderate-good,” which represents an improvement compared with the previous Overviews. Findings concerning water and sediment quality in the St. Lawrence differ from one sector to another. Significant improvements were observed for several indicators of biological resources being monitored. Finally, despite several indicators improving, the state of the Beluga’s population remains a concern as it continues to decline. The situation is unchanged for the indicators related to invasive plant and animal species; it therefore remains a concern, for all of the St. Lawrence.
Overview 2024
The state of the St. Lawrence River in 2024 remains fragile. Various environmental indicators are used to measure the health of the St. Lawrence ecosystem. Analysis of eighteen indicators between 2018 and 2022 shows that 76% of them have either stayed the same or slightly improved. The overall state of the St. Lawrence is considered "moderate," which represents a slight regression compared to the 2019 Overview of the State of the St.Lawrence , which was considered "moderate-good." This deterioration can be attributed to fewer indicators being assessed in 2024. If we consider the indicators common to both the 2019 and 2024 portraits, the overall condition would be unchanged. Water quality is one of the environmental indicators monitored through the State of the St. Lawrence Program, and results show that it varies from one site to another. Regarding the biological resource indicators, improvement is shown in the populations of Great Blue Heron and Striped Bass since the last assessments. Despite these positive results, other indicators continue to decline. Such is the case with wetlands, which have been deteriorating since 1990. The spread of invasive plants and increase of toxic algae remains a concern for the St. Lawrence. Climate change is also having an increasingly visible impact on the health of the St. Lawrence River, according to the indicators that have been analyzed. The diversity of indicators in this overview allows us to better understand the complexity of the various environmental challenges faced by the St. Lawrence River. The information from the 2024 Overview of the State of the St.Lawrence Report will be used to support informed decision-making on issues surrounding the St. Lawrence River and to help in its protection.