Public Notice

Dredging at the port of Cap-aux-Meules – Public Comments Invited

June 25, 2024 - Transport Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada must determine whether the proposed project, Dragage au port de Cap-aux-Meules, located on the Magdalen Islands in Quebec, is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.

In order to contribute to an informed determination, the authorities invite the public to comment on this determination. All comments received will be considered public and may be published online.

Written comments may be submitted by July 26, 2024 to :

Environmental and Aboriginal Affairs - Quebec Region

E-mail: aea-eaa@tc.gc.ca 

The Proposed Project

Context

In fall 2024 and 2025, Transport Canada (TC) will continue the dredging work begun in 2020 at Cap-aux-Meules harbour. An environmental impact assessment (EIA) was carried out in 2020 for this project, and covered the dredging of approximately 55,000 m3 (68,700 m2) of sediment in place to reach depths of -7.1 m in the harbour and -6.5 m in the access channel.

Subsequently, three addendums to the EEE were issued for the following activities:

2021-2022: continuation of the 2020 work, with the addition of a new depth to be reached in the channel area, from -6.5 to -6.8 m (total area approx. 10,645 m2);
2022-2023: continuation of the 2021 work, with the addition of a new dredging zone at the fishermen's wharf (5,700 m2). There was also a new depth to be reached in the tanker dock area, from -6.5 to -7.5m (4,508 m2);
2023-2024: continuation of the work carried out in 2022, with the addition of dredging the rocky shoal in front of wharf no. 7 (20 m2) to reach a depth of -2.5m. The access channel was also dredged deeper, from -6.8 m to 7.1 m, and widened, corresponding to an additional 53,000 m2.

Work scheduled for 2024-2025

The areas and depths targeted by dredging work in 2024-2025 will be :

-4.7 m at Quai des Pêcheurs (3,200 m2);
-7 m in the harbor, near the breakwater (400 m2);
-7.1m in the harbor, near the access channel (2,000 m2);
-2.5 m for the rocky shoal in front of quay no. 7 (20 m2) - if not completed by October 24, 2024;
-7.5 m in the access channel (46,270m2 and 53,000 m2 expansion).
The work in the access channel involves a new depth to be reached, from -7.1 m to -7.5 m, and dredging in the event of silting.

The estimated volume to be dredged in 2024-2025 is 60,000 m3 of sediment in place. With regard to the rocky shoal in front of wharf no. 7, to comply with the various clauses of the disposal at sea permit, the contractor will have to crush the shoal with a jackhammer, remove the boulders from the water with his bucket and manage them on land. The seabed in this area will then have to be levelled using a steel beam, scraper blade or hydraulic shovel.

For the other areas, uncontaminated excavated sediments will be removed using a hydraulic shovel, a crane fitted with a half-shell bucket or a pump (hydraulic suction dredge) and disposed of at the PBCM-1 East disposal site (47, 36650°N, -61.79967°W NAD83), located 4.3 km southeast of Cap-aux-Meules harbour (47.37612ºN and -61.85292ºW NAD83).

Authorizations

A Fisheries Act authorization was issued (2021-029) for work carried out in 2021 (10,645 m2 area outside the channel maintenance gauge). Given the impossibility of carrying out the fish habitat compensation project as planned in 2022, a compensation project was submitted to DFO's Fish and Habitat Protection Program (FHP) in June 2023, for the entire 53,000 m2 of channel dredging gauge enlargement. Two authorizations were issued for this compensation project (2023-023 and 2023-24) in October 2023.

A notice was also issued in August 2023 (23-HQUE-00296) for dredging work on the rocky shoal in front of wharf no. 7. Another notice for work near the fishermen's wharf was also received in February 2024 (23-HQUE-00440).

Loading for disposal and disposal at sea of wastes or other matter require a permit issued by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), under subsection 127(1) of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA, 1999).

The dredging work will also require approval under the Canadian Navigable Waters Act (CNWA) by TC's Navigation Protection Program. A Notice to Shipping will have to be issued concerning the nature and duration of the work.

The requirements of the clauses contained in ECCC's Disposal at Sea Permit and approval under the NSCA will have to be met.

TC, ECCC and DFO are participating in the EA addendum for the 2024-2025 work.