Northwestern and Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence IMMA
Size in Square Kilometres
69 733 km2
Qualifying Species and Criteria
Blue Whale – Balaenoptera musculus
Criterion A; Criterion B (2); Criterion C (2)
Fin Whale – Balaenoptera physalus
Criterion A; Criterion C (2)
Hooded Seal – Cystophora cristata
Criterion A; Criterion C (1)
North Atlantic Right Whale – Eubalaena glacialis
Criterion A; Criterion B (2); Criterion C (2)
Humpback Whale – Megaptera novaeangliae
Criterion B (2); Criterion C (2)
Harp Seal – Pagophilus groenlandicus
Criterion C (1)
Harbor Porpoise – Phocoena Phocoena
Criterion B (2); Criterion C (2)
Marine Mammal Diversity
Balaenoptera musculus. Balaenoptera physalus. Cystophora cristata. Eubalaena glacialis. Megaptera novaeangliae, Pagophilus groenlandicus, Phocoena Phocoena, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, Delphinapterus leucas, Globicephala melas. Halichoerus grypus, Lagenorhynchus acutus, Lagenorhynchus albirostris, Phoca vitulina, Physeter macrocephalus
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Summary
The Northwestern and Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence IMMA, including the Lower St. Lawrence Estuary, is located in eastern Canada. The confluence of temperate waters with the cooler Labrador Current waters creates conditions that support a high diversity of marine mammal species. Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) and harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) occur in the IMMA year-round although their distribution varies with season. Other species enter the IMMA in the autumn or early winter to feed and breed such as harp seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus) and hooded seals (Cystophora cristata). Several species use the IMMA mainly during the ice free season to feed, including blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus), fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus), minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus), long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas), white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus acutus), white-beaked dolphins (Lagenorhynchus albirostris), grey seals (Halichoerus grypus), harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), and North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis). The IMMA is used by threatened species (North Atlantic right whales, St. Lawrence Estuary belugas, blue whales, fin whales, hooded seals, and sperm whales), and sustains a particularly high diversity of marine mammals (15 species). The IMMA encompasses part of the Saguenay St-Lawrence Marine Park, most of the important habitats of blue whales, four EBSAs, and important habitat for a large portion of the critically endangered NARW population.
Description of Qualifying Criteria
Criterion A: Species or Population Vulnerability
Four species that regularly occur in the IMMA are threatened with extinction according to the global IUCN Red List: the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) is listed as Critically Endangered (Cooke 2020) and the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) as Endangered (Cooke 2018a), whereas fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) and hooded seals (Cystophora cristata) are evaluated as Vulnerable (Cooke 2018b; Kovacs et al. 2016). The Canadian Species at Risk Act (SARA) lists the North Atlantic right whale and Northwest Atlantic blue whale as Endangered (Beauchamp et al. 2009; DFO 2014), and the Atlantic fin whale as a population of Special Concern (DFO 2016).
Criterion B: Distribution and Abundance
Sub-criterion B2: Aggregations
Photo-identification and passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) data indicate that the IMMA represents the main aggregation area for the Northwest Atlantic blue whale population during the ice-free period (Comtois et al. 2010; Ramp and Sears 2013; Simard et al. 2016; Moors-Murphy et al. 2019; Lesage et al. 2018; Davis et al. 2020; Delarue et al. 2022). Over the period from 1980 to 2008, the number of blue whales visiting the IMMA varied between years from less than 20 to up to 109 individuals (Ramp and Sears 2013). With an estimated population of fewer than 250 mature individuals (COSEWIC 2012), this would represent at least 5% of the population in years of low occurrence, and 33% or more in years of high frequentation (assuming 33% of the population are juveniles). Mark-recapture analysis also indicates some degree of site fidelity with 67% of the individuals seen over several years (Ramp and Sears 2013). Blue whales generally enter the IMMA in March each year, with a peak in August-September, and most animals departing by December (Ramp and Sears 2013; Lesage et al. 2017).
Since at least 2015, the IMMA attracts approximately 30-40% of the Critically Endangered North Atlantic right whale population each year. Right whales are present between May and November, with peak abundance from June to August (DFO 2018; Crowe et al. 2021; Simard et al. 2019; 2024; St-Pierre et al. 2024; WhaleInsight 2024). Monthly aggregations in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence can reach 120 distinct individuals (Crowe et al. 2021; see also St-Pierre et al. 2024), particularly in the Shediac Valley and surrounding waters, where large copepod biomasses accumulate (Sorochan et al. 2023; Johnson et al. 2024).
Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) occur throughout the North Atlantic (Stenson 2003). In Canadian and U.S. waters, they are suspected to belong to three sub-populations: Newfoundland–Labrador, Gulf of St. Lawrence, and Bay of Fundy–Gulf of Maine, with porpoises on the Scotian Shelf potentially belonging to either the Gulf of St. Lawrence or Bay of Fundy–Gulf of Maine subpopulation (Stenson 2003; NMFS 2022; COSEWIC 2022). During a survey of the entire eastern Canadian seaboard (thus covering the summer range of two populations and part of the range of the 3rd – Fundy-Gulf of Maine – population), the IMMA yielded the highest number of porpoise sightings (Lawson and Gosselin 2018), suggesting they concentrate in the IMMA. Caution is however needed given these relative abundances are based on raw sightings and not corrected for effort or local weather conditions. Data about patterns in seasonal occurrence of porpoises in the IMMA are scarce, although reports mainly occur during summer (Lesage et al. 2007).
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the North Atlantic feed from the Northern Hemisphere spring to autumn in six regions, representing discrete subpopulations to which humpback whales show high matrilineally-defined site fidelity (Katona and Beard 1990; Clapham and Mayo 1987; Palsbøll et al. 2001; Stevick et al. 2006). The humpback whales using the Gulf of St. Lawrence are considered as one of these six subpopulations (Katona and Beard 1990). All known aggregation areas for this subpopulation, with the exception of the Mecatina Through, fall within the limits of the IMMA (Comptois et al. 2010; see also Doniol-Valcroze et al. 2007; Mosnier et al. 2022). There is no abundance estimate for the subpopulation of humpback whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Criterion C: Key Life Cycle Activities
Sub-criterion C1: Reproductive Areas
The IMMA is one of three main areas used by the Northwest Atlantic harp seal population for whelping during winter (Stenson et al. 2022). In years when ice conditions are favourable, up to 18% of the pup production for the whole population may occur in the IMMA, representing up to nearly 300,000 pups (Stenson et al. 1993; 2014; 2022). In recent years, poorer ice conditions have led to a decrease in habitat use for whelping, with pup production representing only 3 to 10% (up to 63,000 pups) of total production (Stenson et al. 2022; Goulet et al. in press). Given mating occurs right after pups are weaned, pupping, lactation, and mating are supported by the IMMA.
Northwest Atlantic hooded seals migrate from the Arctic near Greenland in late autumn to the waters off the east coast of Canada, near Newfoundland (Front), or into the Gulf of St Lawrence (Gulf), where pupping occurs on the pack-ice in March (Sergeant 1976, Hammill 1993). When last assessed in 2005, ice conditions were favourable and approximately 6% of the total pup production (6,600 pups in 2005) for the population occurred within the IMMA (Stenson et al. 2006). Given mating occurs right after pups are weaned, pupping, lactation, and mating are supported by the IMMA.
Sub-criterion C2: Feeding Areas
The IMMA encompasses two main oceanographic features of the hydrodynamic circulation in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (the Gaspé Current and the Anticosti Gyre), and a large portion of the deep Laurentian Channel, which ends abruptly in the Lower St. Lawrence Estuary. Intense tidally driven upwelling along abrupt topographical features, and complex water mass movements over shallow areas (Saucier et al. 2009; Sourisseau et al. 2006; Savenkoff et al. 2017) together result in high concentration–aggregation of persistent krill and small pelagic fish biomasses in the IMMA, creating highly favourable foraging conditions in the Lower St. Lawrence Estuary and northwestern Gulf of St. Lawrence for marine mammals and other species (Bailey et al. 1977; Ménard 1998; Marchand et al. 1999; Simard and Lavoie 1999; Lavoie et al. 2000; Saucier and Chassé 2000 and references therein; Ouellet 2007). Prey densities are further enhanced in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence by relatively shallow depths, which interacts with zooplankton vertical movements, trapping prey within easily accessible depths for marine mammals (e.g., Johnson et al. 2024).
Archival dive data and area-restricted search behaviours documented through satellite tagging indicate that blue and fin whales forage intensively within the IMMA during the ice-free period (Doniol-Valcroze et al. 2011, 2012; Kot et al. 2014; Lesage et al. 2017; Roy et al. 2018; Guilpin et al. 2019; Ramp et al. 2024), a behaviour echoed by other rorqual species for which lunge feeding at or near the surface has been reported on a regular basis (e.g., Lynas and Sylvestre 1988; Kot et al. 2014; Christiansen et al. 2015; see also Doniol-Valcroze et al. 2007; Naud et al. 2003). Foraging for humpback whales is evidenced by their documented fattening while in this IMMA (Narazaki et al. 2018; Aoki et al. 2021).
Since at least 2015, approximately 30-40% of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale population aggregates in the IMMA each year between May and November (DFO 2018; Crowe et al. 2021; St-Pierre et al. 2024; Simard et al. 2019; 2024; Whale Insight 2024). While direct evidence for feeding behaviour is still limited in the literature (see Wright et al. 2024), timing of use, high numbers of individuals observed, and high biomasses of copepods observed in the IMMA during the right whale feeding period (Sorochan et al. 2023; Plourde et al. 2024) indicate feeding is the main purpose for use of the IMMA (see also Gavrilchuk et al. 2021; Johnson et al. 2024).
Evidence of foraging for harbour porpoises is supported by stomach contents (Fontaine et al. 1990), bycatch in fisheries operating within the IMMA (Lesage et al. 2006), and timing of their presence (e.g., corresponding to their feeding period; Lacroix Lepage 2018).
Both the species that qualify for IMMA criteria and those indicated as ‘supporting species’ are likely attracted to the area for its productivity and feeding opportunities. While harp and hooded seals use the area for pupping on ice, fall, winter and spring diving and diet data indicate they also enter the IMMA to feed (Sergeant 1991; Beck et al. 1993; Hammill et al. 2005; Bajzak et al. 2009; Vacquié-Garcia et al. 2024).
Criterion D: Special Attributes
Sub-criterion D2: Diversity
Fifteen species are known to occur in the IMMA on a regular basis. They include the seven species presented above, as well as the common minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), belugas (Delphinapterus leucas), long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas), grey seals (Halichoerus grypus), white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus acutus), white-beaked dolphins (L. albirostris), harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) and sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus; Lesage et al. 2007; Doniol-Valcroze et al. 2007; Lawson and Gosselin 2009; 2018; Comtois et al. 2010; Ramp and Sears 2013; Truchon et al. 2013; Lacroix Lepage 2018; St-Pierre et al. 2024). This area is among those described as having the highest species diversity off eastern Canada (e.g., Lesage et al. 2007; Convention on Biological Diversity 2014). The Northwestern Gulf of St. Lawrence is influenced by both Arctic and more temperate waters, which likely enhances species diversity. While a wider diversity of marine mammal species may be reported in other more temperate areas off the eastern U.S. (e.g., Schick et al. 2011), the IMMA still stands out as an area with an exceptionally high diversity of marine mammals in the Northwest Atlantic.
Supporting Information
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