Rainbow Smelt Breeding and Feeding Areas in Saguenay and St. Lawrence River

A geospatial layer documents known rainbow smelt breeding and feeding areas in the Saguenay River, the fluvial section, and Estuary of St. Lawrence. The data was compiled from a literature review of documents produced between 1977 and 2000 by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Use Cases

• Map breeding and feeding areas from the SHP layer to analyze habitat distribution in the Saguenay River.
• Use the geospatial data to study the relationship between water levels and rainbow smelt reproduction in the St. Lawrence Estuary.
• Analyze the CSV data to identify feeding areas documented in the literature review for ecological modeling.
• Integrate the ESRI REST service with other aquatic ecology datasets for a broader habitat assessment of the St. Lawrence River system.

Strengths

• Data is based on a formal literature review of scientific documents spanning 23 years (1977-2000).
• Covers multiple distinct geographic regions: the Saguenay River, the fluvial section, and the Estuary of St. Lawrence.
• Available in multiple standard geospatial formats (SHP, ESRI REST, CSV) for different analytical needs.

Limitations

• The underlying literature review is over 20 years old, so the habitat information may not reflect current conditions.
• The specific data structure, including column names and row counts, is unknown, complicating immediate analysis.
• Data collection methods and precision vary across the original source documents cited in the review.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Collection Method

Compiled from a literature review of scientific documents, reports, and unpublished data.

Time Range

Source documents published between 1977 and 2000.

Freshness

The dataset metadata was last updated in March 2026, but the source literature review covers 1977-2000.

Geography

Saguenay River, the fluvial section, and Estuary of St. Lawrence, Canada.