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A planned expansion of the Saguenay–Saint Lawrence Marine Park aims to create a safer space for mother beluga whales to raise their young.
The gleaming white back of an adult beluga whale arcs out of the water, exhales, then dives again. A smaller baby beluga follows close behind. The Zodiac slows and I hold my breath in unison with 40 other rubber-necking sightseers seated in orderly rows, straining for a view of the mother beluga and her calf. Dressed in puffy orange survival suits provided by the Croisières AML crew, we resemble a neatly arranged bowl of Cheetos.
We’re zipping around the 1,245-square-kilometre (480-square-mile) Saguenay–Saint Lawrence Marine Park on the northern, deeper half of the Saint Lawrence River, where the two Quebec rivers meet. I’m glad for the suit because temperatures are a frigid 4-6°C (39-43°F) year-round, making it ideal for phytoplankton growth and the 2,200 species in the food chain that rely on them, from tiny krill up to the blue whale — possibly the largest mammal in Earth’s history — and the resident beluga population, the reason the park was established in 1998.
The guide yells, “Two o’clock!” Heads swivel in unison to see a dozen male belugas surface briefly for air. Though they aren’t marine acrobats like humpback whales, which occasionally leap from the water, belugas have flexible necks and lips, so they can look around, smile, and even whistle, instantly endearing them to tourists like me.
Over the loudspeaker, our guide explains a sobering truth. The belugas here are endangered and declining about 1% annually. Particularly alarming is the unexplained increase in mortality among newborns and mature females. From a high of 10,000 in 1900, the population dropped to a low of 400 in the 1980s due to whaling and bounty hunting (they were mistakenly believed to cause fish-stock declines). Hunting was banned in 1979, and the population recovered to a peak of 2,200, but now the slow decline continues. Today, ship strikes, underwater noise, fishing gear entanglement, and industrial pollution are the major threats to the belugas.
The Saguenay Fjord
My journey began that morning aboard a smaller glass-domed boat nearly 100 kilometres (62 miles) inland on the Saguenay at La Baie, where the park begins. It’s a pleasant two-hour ride between the 350-metre-high (1,150 feet) fjord walls carved by glaciers during the last ice age. Captain Frederic Flamant navigates slowly, careful not to disturb the belugas we pass along the way.
The underwater geography of these two major rivers make them the ideal beluga habitat. At once river and sea, the Saguenay’s deep waters form one of the world’s longest fjords, at 105 kilometres. Cold tidal saltwater from the Saint Lawrence runs up the Saguenay beneath the warmer fresh waters flowing downstream. Between the two currents, a thin layer called a thermocline is rich in phytoplankton, carbon dioxide, and other nutrients.
We disembark when we reach the village of Tadoussac, where the Saguenay meets the Saint Lawrence. A flotilla of yellow Zodiacs, idle after a busy summer season, is docked at the marina. I check in at the iconic red-roofed Hotel Tadoussac, a throwback to early 20th century luxury travel, to prepare for the whale watching cruise.
Land-Based Beluga Observation
After the Croisières AML tour, I head to the non-profit Centre of Marine Mammal Interpretation. Life-size models of belugas are perched near the entrance on a rocky outcrop. Inside, I meet the chief naturalist, Christine Stadelmann.
“We have the largest whale skeleton collection in Canada — 16 different skeletons and the jaw of a blue whale,” she says. “All the whales were found in the Saint Lawrence.” She invites me to step inside the body of a North Atlantic right whale, touch the bristly baleen from a humpback whale’s mouth, and measure myself against that blue whale jawbone.
Not just the mother, but all the female belugas together, take care of the kids to protect and educate them. These are slow, warm waters, so it’s easier for the kids to grow up, which takes two or three years.
— Marie Spehner, Marine Mammal Observation Network project manager
The next day, I drive downstream and spot belugas from the Cap-de-Bon-Desir Interpretation and Observation Centre, one of several land-based stations. I continue to Les Escoumins, where I board the little car ferry that takes 90 minutes to make the 29-kilometre (18-mile) crossing to the Saint Lawrence’s south coast. From the deck, I spot belugas and a fin whale, the world’s second-largest mammal.
I stop at Putep ’t-awt (“Beluga Trail” in Wolastoqey, the local Indigenous language), a brand-new observation platform at Gros-Cacouna. This is where I learn that beluga nurseries tend to be on the south coast outside the park.
“Not just the mother, but all the female belugas together, take care of the kids to protect and educate them,” says Marie Spehner, project manager with the Marine Mammal Observation Network. “These are slow, warm waters, so it’s easier for the kids to grow up, which takes two or three years.” In 2023, she says, the Quebec and Canadian governments that co-manage the Saguenay–Saint Lawrence Marine Park announced plans to expand the park to nearly four times its current size. The expansion includes these southern waters.
A joint press release states, “The expansion project’s main objective is to protect the critical habitat of the Saint Lawrence beluga, of which more than 60% currently lies outside the boundaries of the marine park.” There’s a lot of work ahead: navigating federal and provincial regulations, completing scientific assessments, and gaining the support of coastal communities and shipping, fishing, and tourism interests.
I depart the last beluga-spotting station knowing the belugas are safer here away from shipping lanes and that tourists like me, anxious for encounters with the little smiling whales, helped increase the demand for further protection, especially for the beluga nurseries.
