The Zebra Mussel Response Planning Guide is a decision support tool to be used when this invasive species is detected. It outlines the steps required in deciding whether a response is possible or desirable, determining the best response option depending on the situation, and facilitating the implementation of an appropriate response. This guide was prepared by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and the Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs (Quebec Department of Forests, Wildlife and Parks) (MFFP) to give governments (municipal, provincial and federal) and local Saint-François River watershed organizations the tools they need in making decisions to control the spread of the zebra mussel.
Zebra mussels cause significant changes in water quality and have impacts on all trophic levels. They can spread when recreational boats carrying them are moved from one body of water to another. The mussels will colonize any available surface, including infrastructure such as water intakes, pipes supplying dams and power plants, and irrigation systems.
Cytostatic drugs—anticancer drugs also known as antineoplastics—are compounds that are highly toxic in low concentrations at both the cellular and DNA levels. Statistics show that their use is increasing by 10% every year. Although these pharmaceuticals are largely administered in hospitals, an increasing number of patients go home after treatment, meaning that eliminated cytostatic compounds may end up in municipal wastewater. Several studies have demonstrated that conventional wastewater treatment facilities are ineffective in treating cytostatic compounds, and very little degradation occurs. Consequently, these compounds’ presence in the environment could increase in the near future, posing a risk to exposed organisms.
The Sustainable Navigation Strategy constitutes, in the maritime environment, a reference with regard to sustainable development resulting from the concertation of governments, the maritime industry, environmental organizations, riparian communities represented by ZIP committees (priority intervention zone), boaters and the population.
The SLAP 2016–2021 has led to many interdepartmental projects and activities, including 43 projects focusing on the three priority issues of biodiversity conservation, sustainable use, and improved water quality.
Habitat management work has recently been conducted in the Lake Saint-Pierre area. Among these, three watercourses in the Baie-du-Febvre sector have been restored and an agroforestry plot was created at the Bertco farm in 2012. Wildlife monitoring was carried out in 2012 and 2018 in order to evaluate the response of wildlife to this habitat management. This report presents the results of the anuran (toad, frog) surveys conducted at these sites.
In 2008, the St. Lawrence River component of Environment and Climate Change Canada’s (ECCC) Water Quality Monitoring and Surveillance Section made a commitment to provide scientific support to the Chemicals Management Plan (CMP). The CMP is a federal government initiative aimed at reducing the risks posed by chemicals to Canadians and their environment. This support generated a significant amount of funding, which, in conjunction with financial support from the St. Lawrence Action Plan (SLAP), made it possible to provide an initial portrait of substances of emerging interest in sediments and suspended sediments in the St. Lawrence River from samples collected in sediment traps.
Neonicotinoid insecticides were discovered in the 1980s and were introduced into the market a decade later. Since then, their use has become extremely widespread around the world, notably in response to the increasing resistance of insect pests to traditional insecticides such as organophosphates, carbamates and pyrethroids. Neonicotinoids are systemic insecticides that, unlike insecticides that remain on the surface of treated foliage, are absorbed by the plant and transported throughout its tissues, including the foliage, stems, roots, flowers, pollen and fruit
A close to 20 years monitoring of the phytoplankton and zooplankton community of the St-Lawrence estuary and Gulf shows that their global state remained fairly stable for the 2013-2017 period. If the biomass and the composition of the phytoplankton are highly variable, they did not show signs of anomalies for the most recent period. On the other side, zooplankton biomasses decreased slightly and its composition is changing, which could have impacts on the food web. On the toxic algae bloom side, there was a slight decrease in the last four years.
The summary indicator demonstrates that the temperature of the three levels of the St-Lawrence (surface, intermediate, deep) as well as the hypoxia and acidity conditions of the estuary remain at the intermediate level for the 2013-2017 period. However, a deteriorating trend of the general state was recorded from 2008 to 2012 and was mostly due to the high temperature of the deep waters which started to climb in 1915. The global tendency is also due to the decline of dissolved oxygen and the level of acidity in the St-Lawrence estuary, who both reached new records.
