Expedition St. Lawrence : An unprecedented mobilization for the health of the St. Lawrence River

© Mission 1000 Tonnes
December 3, 2024
Expedition St. Lawrence is an ambitious project to explore, study and clean up the St. Lawrence, one of Canada’s most important and vulnerable ecosystems. The project is the fruit of collaboration between two Quebec organizations committed to environmental protection: Mission 1000 tonnes and Stratégies Saint-Laurent. Thanks to their collaboration, concrete actions have been taken all along the St. Lawrence, from Montreal to the Gaspé Peninsula, via Quebec City, the North Shore and even as far as Anticosti Island. Expedition Saint-Laurent removed over 8 tonnes of waste and mobilized more than 500 volunteers across Quebec.
The environmental context of the St. Lawrence
The St. Lawrence River, some 1,197 kilometers long, links the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean, crossing Quebec and constituting one of North America’s most important waterways. In addition to its economic and historical importance, the St. Lawrence plays a crucial role in regional biodiversity, providing a habitat for numerous aquatic and plant species.
Unfortunately, the river is currently threatened by alarming levels of plastic pollution. Plastics, often fragmented into microplastics, pose a threat to all the animal species that make up the food chains of the St. Lawrence ecosystems. According to some studies, the St. Lawrence is one of the most polluted rivers in the world when it comes to microplastics. According to these studies, there are around 100,000 microplastic particles per square kilometer on the surface of the St. Lawrence River.
In view of these findings, and considering that the St. Lawrence is the source of drinking water for more than half of Quebec’s population, the organizations Mission 1000 tonnes and Stratégies Saint-Laurent are deploying proactive measures to try and halt the environmental degradation of the river. It was against this backdrop that the Expedition St. Lawrence took shape.
The Saint-Laurent Expedition: Objectives and progress
Expedition St. Lawrence involved a team of 18 committed people who criss-crossed the various regions of Quebec bordering the St. Lawrence for just under twenty days aboard the expedition bus. Scientists, scuba divers, awareness-raising specialists, four young environmentalists and an ecological restoration team removed and analyzed impressive quantities of waste from the river, while raising public and elected awareness of the ecological issues affecting this fragile ecosystem.
The objectives and results of Expedition St. Lawrence :
1. Shoreline and underwater clean-up: Expedition teams visited 12 municipalities to remove plastic waste and other solid debris from the banks and bottom of the St. Lawrence. Over 8,000 kg of waste were removed during the various clean-ups.
2. Waste analysis: The waste collected was organized in order to identify its origins and better understand the dynamics of pollution in the St. Lawrence. Sediment samples were also taken to analyze the quantity of microplastics present in the sediments of the St. Lawrence.
3. Awareness-raising and education: An essential component of Expedition St. Lawrence is raising public awareness. Through an effective communications campaign and conferences, Expedition St. Lawrence reached hundreds of thousands of people to raise awareness of the need to adopt responsible behaviors to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in the St. Lawrence every year.
Mobilizing communities
One of the central aspects of Expedition St. Lawrence is the importance attached to citizen participation. Mission 1000 tonnes and Stratégies Saint-Laurent have brought together over 500 volunteers and elected officials from local communities to amplify the impact of their actions. This approach is designed to encourage a sense of collective responsibility for protecting the river. In addition, seven municipalities have also joined the St. Lawrence Challenge, a Stratégies Saint-Laurent program designed to encourage municipalities and businesses to reduce their impact on plastic pollution in the St. Lawrence, by making concrete commitments to reduce the amount of plastic waste generated in their municipality.
Vision for the Future
Expedition St. Lawrence is the largest clean-up mobilization organized by Mission 1000 tonnes and Stratégies Saint-Laurent, thanks to numerous partners including Club April Marine. The impressive results of this initiative illustrate that with a clear vision, collective mobilization and concrete action, it is possible to reverse the current trend of environmental degradation.
Mission 1000 tonnes and Stratégies Saint-Laurent: two players, one common goal
Mission 1000 tonnes is a Quebec-based organization whose goal is to remove at least 1,000 tonnes of waste from the world’s waterways, including, of course, the St. Lawrence. Founded by Jimmy Vigneux and Lyne Morissette, the organization relies on citizen mobilization to achieve its goals. Founded by Jimmy Vigneux and Lyne Morissette, the organization relies on citizen participation, businesses, elexted officials, divers, fishermen and boaters to take part in collective clean-ups of the river and its banks.
Stratégies Saint-Laurent is a non-profit organization that has been working since the 1990s to protect, enhance and restore the St. Lawrence River. The organization represents all the ZIP committees in Quebec, and works in collaboration with various governmental, community and industrial players to promote environmentally-friendly practices.
The two organizations, though different, share a common goal: to protect and restore the health of the St. Lawrence River. By joining forces, they hope to amplify their impact and reach a wider audience. together, they created an unprecedented initiative to clean up, study and restore the state of the river.