The Baie des Ha! Ha! is a particularly developed cove over a length of eleven
kilometres
The kilometre ( SI symbol: km; or ), spelt kilometer in American English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres (kilo- being the SI prefix for ). It is now the measurement unit used for ...
on the
Saguenay River
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The Saguenay River () is a major river of Quebec, Canada.
It drains Lac Saint-Jean in the Laurentian Highlands, leaving at Alma and running east; the city of Saguenay is located on the river. It drains into the Saint Lawrence River. ...
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. At the end of this natural corridor, which was originally called in French the "Grande Anse", then the "Grande Baie", there are the Ha! Ha! River and
Rivière à Mars
The Rivière à Mars is a tributary of the Baie des Ha! Ha! (Saguenay River), Baie des Ha! Ha! Crossing the borough La Baie, in Saguenay, Quebec, Saguenay (city), in the administrative region of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, in Quebec, in Canada. The ...
. According to the Second Saguenay theory, this vast depression is the extension of the fault and collapse ditch of the
Kenogami Lake
Kenogami lake is a long lake in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of south-central Quebec, Canada. Situated at an altitude of , the lake is long and deep. "Kénogami" means "long lake" in the Montagnais dialect and was originally used to ref ...
which is located upstream less than twenty kilometers.
History
Long before the landing in 1838 of the Charlevoix settlers, founders of the Saint-Alexis-sur-l'Islet parish, this haven sheltered at the end of the bay constitutes a place of meeting and exchanges for the Amerindian populations. The two villages that have become modest urban centers in the 20th century merge before finding themselves in the center of the district of
La Baie
La Baie (French pronunciation: / la bɛ/, Quebec French pronunciation: / la be/) is one of three boroughs in the city of Saguenay, Quebec, Canada. It was created during Quebec's municipal reorganization in 2002. From 1976 to 2001, it was know ...
within the big city of Saguenay. It is through this bay that the
bauxite
Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO ...
of the
aluminum smelter
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...
s of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean transits to the port facilities of to be discharged subsequently carried by train to the various factories of
Rio Tinto Alcan
Rio Tinto Alcan is a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, based in Montreal. It was created on 15 November 2007 as the result of the merger between Rio Tinto's Canadian subsidiary and Canadian company Alcan.
It is the global leader of aluminium mining and ...
.
Since September 2009, the tourist potential of the bay has been exploited with the inauguration of a port of call for cruise ships. During the winter for thousands of generations, when the ice is solid there, they practice
ice fishing
Ice fishing is the practice of catching fish with lines and fish hooks or spears through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water. Ice fishers may fish in the open or in heated enclosures, some with bunks and amenities.
Shelters
Longe ...
. The Saguenay flood, in July 1996 caused a significant deposit of sediment in this bay.
Toponymy
The term ''Ha! Ha!'' Does not come under the trivial
onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', '' ...
, but probably from an alteration of a Montagnais toponym almost unpronounceable in French which means in Algonquin ''place where bark is exchanged''. Other linguists think of a possible derivation of the term French ''haha'' which means ''unexpected obstacle on a path''. But in this specific case, we do not perceive the obstacle in question.
In Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, certain places, moreover, correlated with the hydrographic basin leading towards the bay on the homonymous Saguenay also use this appellation:
* Ha! Ha! River;
*
Lake Ha! Ha!
Lake Ha! Ha! is a waterbody tributary of the Ha! Ha! River. It is located in the municipality of Ferland-et-Boilleau, Quebec, in the Le Fjord-du-Saguenay Regional County Municipality (MRC), in administrative region of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, i ...
;
*
Petit lac Ha! Ha!
Petit lac Ha! Ha! is a freshwater lake in the Ferland-et Boilleau municipality, in the administrative region of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, in the province of Quebec, in Canada. It is located on the east side of Lake Ha! Ha! into which it drains.
...
;
Geography
The "Baie des Ha! Ha!" is a large return from the
Saguenay River
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The Saguenay River () is a major river of Quebec, Canada.
It drains Lac Saint-Jean in the Laurentian Highlands, leaving at Alma and running east; the city of Saguenay is located on the river. It drains into the Saint Lawrence River. ...
in the land which seems the normal continuation of the . This bay has a length of , a maximum width of and an altitude of .
From the confluence of Baie des Ha! Ha! the current follows the course of the
Saguenay River
__NOTOC__
The Saguenay River () is a major river of Quebec, Canada.
It drains Lac Saint-Jean in the Laurentian Highlands, leaving at Alma and running east; the city of Saguenay is located on the river. It drains into the Saint Lawrence River. ...
on eastward to
Tadoussac
Tadoussac () is a village in Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saguenay and Saint Lawrence rivers. The indigenous Innu call the place ''Totouskak'' (plural for ''totouswk'' or ''totochak'') meaning "bosom", probably in reference to the tw ...
where it merges with the
Estuary of Saint Lawrence
The estuary of the Saint Lawrence in Quebec, Canada, is one of the largest esturaries in the world.
Situation
The estuary of the St. Lawrence River is located downstream of the St. Lawrence River and upstream of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It ...
.
Environment
Fauna
Riverine fauna
One counts among the fauna bordering the Baie Ha! Ha! species of
mammals
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur o ...
common to the whole of
Saguenay Fjord
Saguenay Fjord National Park (french: parc national du Fjord-du-Saguenay) is a provincial park located in Quebec, Canada. In the regions of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Charlevoix, Côte-Nord, and Bas-Saint-Laurent, the park is situated along the ...
and the
mixed forest
Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions.
These fo ...
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
American mink
The American mink (''Neogale vison'') is a semiaquatic species of mustelid native to North America, though human intervention has expanded its range to many parts of Europe, Asia and South America. Because of range expansion, the American mink i ...
long-tailed weasel
The long-tailed weasel (''Neogale frenata''), also known as the bridled weasel, masked ermine, or big stoat, is a species of mustelid distributed from southern Canada throughout all the United States and Mexico, southward through all of Central A ...
raccoon
The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...
Canadian Beaver
The North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') is one of two extant beaver species, along with the Eurasian beaver (''Castor fiber''). It is native to North America and introduced in South America (Patagonia) and Europe (primarily Finland ...
Saguenay River
__NOTOC__
The Saguenay River () is a major river of Quebec, Canada.
It drains Lac Saint-Jean in the Laurentian Highlands, leaving at Alma and running east; the city of Saguenay is located on the river. It drains into the Saint Lawrence River. ...
, include about 76 species of freshwater and marine fish. This phenomenon is explained by the fact that the "Baie des Ha! Ha!" consists of two overlapping layers of water. On the surface, a layer of slightly salty water which comes from the rivers which flow into the fjord, and in depth, the salty and cold water which, here in this upstream basin, is slowly renewed at a rate close to the annual after entering the Saguenay by tidal effect from the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The presence of these two layers separated by a halocline thickness promotes a rich biodiversity and makes it a very favorable environment for life. Among these species, we can count:
* the brook trout
* the
rainbow smelt
The rainbow smelt (''Osmerus mordax'') is a North American species of fish of the family Osmeridae. Walleye, trout, and other larger fish prey on these smelt. The rainbow smelt prefer juvenile ciscoes, zooplankton such as calanoid copepods ('' L ...
*
Atlantic cod
The Atlantic cod (''Gadus morhua'') is a benthopelagic fish of the family Gadidae, widely consumed by humans. It is also commercially known as cod or codling.sébaste
* the
Greenland shark
The Greenland shark (''Somniosus microcephalus''), also known as the gurry shark, grey shark, or by the Kalaallisut name ''eqalussuaq'', is a large shark of the family Somniosidae ("sleeper sharks"), closely related to the Pacific and souther ...
lake sturgeon
The lake sturgeon (''Acipenser fulvescens''), also known as the rock sturgeon, is a North American temperate freshwater fish, one of about 25 species of sturgeon. Like other sturgeons, this species is a bottom feeder with evolutionarily basal tr ...