The Véco River (, ) is a salmon river in the

Côte-Nord Côte-Nord (Region 09) (, ; ) is an List of regions of Quebec, administrative region of Quebec, on the Quebec-Labrador peninsula, Quebec-Labrador Peninsula, Canada. The region runs along the St. Lawrence River and then the Gulf of St. Lawrence, ...

region of Quebec, Canada, that empties into the

Gulf of Saint Lawrence The Gulf of St. Lawrence is a gulf that fringes the shores of the provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, in Canada, plus the islands Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, possessions of France, in ...

. It has been dammed to supply a hydroelectric power plant. The shoreline around the mouth of the river is protected as part of a federal bird sanctuary.

Location

The Véco River is long and its watershed covers . The river drains Lake Robertson Lake, Lake Charles and Lake Blais. It empties into Ha! Ha! Bay. The river flows through the unorganized territory of Petit-Mécatina. The mouth of the river is in the municipality of Gros-Mécatina in Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent Regional County Municipality.

Name

The river is named after Jean-Baptiste Véco, a notary-royal, who exercised his profession in Acadia in the 17th century.

Dam

Hydro-Québec Hydro-Québec () is a Canadian Crown corporations of Canada#Quebec, Crown corporation public utility headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. It manages the electricity generation, generation, electric power transmission, transmission and electricity ...

dam on the river created the Robertson Reservoir for the Lac-Robertson Generating Station, which includes the former Lake Robertson and Lake Plamondon. It contains rainbow smelt, arctic char, brook trout and landlocked salmon. The 22 MW power plant came into operation in 1995. The water quality was monitored from 1990 to 1997. The dam had the effect of increasing mercury content in the lake water. Degradation of organic matter in the flooded zone releases mercury, which is transformed into

methyl mercury Methylmercury is an organometallic cation with the formula . It is the simplest organomercury compound. Methylmercury is extremely toxic, and its derivatives are the major source of organic mercury for humans. It is a bioaccumulative environmen ...

and enters the food chain. These changes may have affected the water quality of the Véco River and Ha! Ha! Bay.

Conservation

The proposed Harrington Harbor Biodiversity Reserve would lie in the river's watershed. A bird sanctuary, the Gros-Mécatina Migratory Bird Sanctuary, covers Plate Island and Trois Collines Island as well as Marmette Islands and Rocks. It is fully protected and access is forbidden. It is owned by the Federal Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife and is subject to the

Migratory Birds Convention Act The Migratory Birds Convention Act (also MBCA) is a Canadian law established in 1917 and significantly updated in June 1994 which contains regulations to protect migratory birds, their eggs, and their nests from destruction by hunting, trafficking ...

, the Canada Wildlife Act and the Regulations on migratory bird sanctuaries. The tidal zone of the

Gros Mécatina River The Gros Mécatina River () is a salmon river in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. It empties into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Location The Gros Mécatina River is about long, and originates in Lac Boucher east of the Little Mecatina Riv ...

and the Véco River are outside the jurisdiction of the Municipality of Gros-Mécatina and are managed by the bird sanctuary.

Fishing

The Véco River is used as a spawning ground by

Atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Hucho taimen, Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlan ...

(''Salmo salar'') and

brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada. Two ecological forms of brook trout h ...

(''Salvelinus fontinalis'').

Arctic char The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes, as well as Arctic and subarctic coastal waters in the Holarctic realm, Holarctic. Distribution and habitat It Spaw ...

(''Salvelinus alpinus'') has been noted in Robertson Lake, and could be more widespread in the area. The mouth of the Véco River in Ha!Ha! Bay is home to

rainbow smelt The rainbow smelt (''Osmerus mordax'') is a North American species of fish of the family (biology), family Osmeridae. Walleye, trout, and other larger fish prey on these smelt. The rainbow smelt prefer juvenile cisco (fish), ciscoes, zooplankton ...

(''Osmerus mordax''), Atlantic tomcod (''Microgadus tomcod'') and

American eel The American eel (''Anguilla rostrata'') is a facultative catadromous eel found on the eastern coast of North America. Anguillidae, Freshwater eels are fish belonging to the Elopomorpha, elopomorph superorder, a group of Phylogenetics, phylogen ...

(''Anguilla rostrata''). The Pourvoirie Kecarpoui arranges fishing/camping expeditions that include the Véco River and other nearby rivers ( Kécarpoui, Saint-Augustin, Coxipi, Chécatica and Napetipi. In the period from 2012 to 2016 an average of four salmon were reported caught in the river each year. In 2017 all salmon, large and small, had to be released on the Malbaie (Gaspé Peninsula), Pigou, Bouleau,

Magpie Magpies are birds of various species of the family Corvidae. Like other members of their family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures. The Eurasian magpie, for instance, is thought to rank among the world's most intelligent c ...

, Coacoachou, Nétagamiou, Little Mecatina and Véco rivers. Only young salmon could be retained on 51 rivers, and limited retention of large salmon was allowed on 19 rivers.

Notes

Citations

Sources

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