Magazine
White Whales for Saint-Jean-Baptiste
It’s been a veritable parade of new whales this week: belugas dispersing in the estuary (even providing a memorable scene for a woman from Les Escoumins on Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day), minke whales up and down the St. Lawrence, and fin whales near Sept-Îles. Plus, there are now six humpback whales swimming in Gaspé Bay.
Field Notes
California: Marine Life with Flair!
Last March, I had the opportunity to travel to Morro Bay, a small seaside village in central California. The sea…
Coastal Bird Monitoring in the Saguenay–St. Lawrence Marine Park
By : Pierre-Alexandre Dumas, coécrit avec Eliza-Jane Morin It’s 8 a.m. and I'm joining my team at the Parks Canada office…
Field Notes: Whale Bone Hodgepodge!
This day off promises to be a special one. Together with Yael, another one of GREMM’s seasonal workers this year,…
Hot Topics
Round-up of 2025 North Atlantic Right Whale News
After being hunted for hundreds of years, the North Atlantic right whale currently faces a number of threats, including entanglements…
ROUND-UP OF 2024 NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE NEWS
After being hunted for centuries, today’s North Atlantic right whales face many challenges, including entanglements with fishing gear, ship strikes…
Round-up of 2023 North Atlantic Right Whale News
After being hunted for centuries, today’s North Atlantic right whales face many challenges, including entanglements with fishing gear, ship strikes…
Marine Mammal Emergencies
Beluga Mortality Report : Few Carcasses Found in 2024
Only six beluga carcasses were found in 2024, the lowest figure in several years. By comparison, there were 17 carcasses…
What can we learn from research on St. Lawrence seals?
On a beach along the St. Lawrence lies the carcass of a harbour seal. Standing out against the brownish seaweed…
Five Good Reasons to Leave Young Seals Alone
Over the past week, the presence of harp seal pups on the beaches of the Magdalen Islands and the Gaspé…
News
Is the St. Lawrence full of microplastics?
With tens of millions of tonnes of microplastics released every year by humanity’s unrestrained consumerism, our rivers and oceans now…
CIMM Gets a New Skeleton!
The story of an unusual whale in our region is now making headlines. This article retraces the story of a…
Changes in the Diet of St. Lawrence Belugas
“Small fish such as capelin (Mallotus villosus) and sand launce [sic] (Ammodytes spp.) [...] are the main food of Beluga…
Observation of the Week
White Whales for Saint-Jean-Baptiste
It’s been a veritable parade of new whales this week: belugas dispersing in the estuary (even providing a memorable scene…
“A dozen humpbacks, six fin whales, and four blues” in Gaspé Bay
Gaspé Bay has been the scene of some remarkable sightings, with a dozen or so humpback whales, six fin whales,…
Return of Humpbacks to the Estuary and Right Whales to the Gulf
Humpback whales have been everywhere this week: Two or three individuals were roaming Gaspé Bay, the estuary welcomed its first…
Whale Q&A
Could the heavy presence of large rorquals before the summer season have had an impact on prey abundance?
While it is not unusual to see large rorquals in the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence in winter, more…
Killer Whales in the St. Lawrence
The last time killer whales were seen in Tadoussac was in 2003, though other sightings (article in French) are occasionally…
Cabinet of Curiosities: Unusual Whales!
The reason marine mammals fascinate us so much is that we are far from having unravelled all of their mysteries!…