Editing Gulf of St. Lawrence (section)

===Extent===

The Gulf of St. Lawrence is bounded on the north by the [[Labrador Peninsula]] and [[Quebec]], on the east by [[Saint-Pierre, Saint Pierre and Miquelon|Saint-Pierre]] and [[Island of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]], on the south by the [[Nova Scotia peninsula]] and [[Cape Breton Island]], and on the west by the [[Gaspé Peninsula]], [[New Brunswick]], and Quebec. The Gulf of St. Lawrence contains numerous islands, including [[Anticosti Island|Anticosti]], [[Prince Edward Island|Prince Edward]], [[Saint Pierre Island|Saint Pierre]], [[Cape Breton Island|Cape Breton]], [[Miquelon-Langlade]], and the [[Magdalen Islands|Îles-de-la-Madeleine archipelago]].

Half of Canada's ten provinces adjoin the Gulf: [[New Brunswick]], [[Nova Scotia]], [[Prince Edward Island]], [[Newfoundland and Labrador]], and [[Quebec]].

There is no consensus on the demarcation of the [[St. Lawrence River|St Lawrence River]] from the Gulf, nor whether it is hydrographically a [[gulf]] or an [[estuary]].<ref name="Histoire du Canada Français depuis la découverte">{{cite web |author1=Lionel Groulx |title=History of French Canada since the Discovery |url=https://fondationlionelgroulx.org/sites/default/files/documents/lionel-groulx-histoire-du-canada-francais-depuis-la-decouverte-tome-1.pdf |publisher=Fides, Montreal and Paris |access-date=23 February 2024 |pages=16 of 404 |language=fr |date=1960 |quote=In the absence of decisive, first-hand documents, historians and cartographers can only assert probabilities.}}</ref><ref name="Small Ocean or Big Estuary">{{cite web |author1=Jean-Claude Therriault |title=The Gulf of St. Lawrence: Small Ocean or Big Estuary |url=https://waves-vagues.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/library-bibliotheque/20971_1.pdf |publisher=Fisheries and Oceans Canada |access-date=23 February 2024 |pages=359 |language=en, fr |quote=The Gulf of St. Lawrence contains a wide range of hydrodynamic conditions including seasonal ice cover, polynyas, fronts, gyres, freshwater input and influences, and large seasonal variations in vertical stratification.}}</ref><ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica">{{cite web |title=Gulf of St. Lawrence |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Gulf-of-Saint-Lawrence |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |publisher=Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia |access-date=23 February 2024 |date=2024-02-20}}</ref>

According to Commission of Toponymy Quebec, the St. Lawrence River becomes the gulf at Pointe des Monts on the [[Côte-Nord]] and [[Matane]] [[Bas-Saint-Laurent]] or [[Sainte-Anne-des-Monts]] [[La Haute-Gaspésie Regional County Municipality|La Haute-Gaspésie]], the [[Estuary of St. Lawrence|Estuary]] is upstream, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, much wider, downstream.<ref name="Toponymie Quebec">{{cite web |title=Gulf of St. Lawrence |url=https://toponymie.gouv.qc.ca/ct/ToposWeb/Fiche.aspx?no_seq=57035 |website=Commission de toponymie Quebec |publisher=Government of Quebec |access-date=23 February 2024 |language=fr |date=1968-12-05 |quote=Sixteenth-century cartographers, historians and memorialists were most often inspired by the Spanish and Italian translations of the Brief récit, and not by the original French published in 1545 to impose the toponym Gulf of St. Lawrence}}</ref><ref name="Pointe des Monts">{{cite web |title=Pointe des Monts |url=https://toponymie.gouv.qc.ca/ct/ToposWeb/Fiche.aspx?no_seq=42200 |website=Commission de toponymie Quebec |publisher=Government of Quebec |access-date=24 February 2024 |language=fr |date=1968-12-05 |quote=These points serve as a boundary between the Estuary of the St. Lawrence River upstream and the much wider Gulf of St. Lawrence downstream}}</ref>

The [[International Hydrographic Organization]] defines the gulf's extent as follows:<ref name="Gulf of St. Lawrence 1953">{{cite web |title=Gulf of St. Lawrence |url=https://iho.int/uploads/user/pubs/standards/s-23/S-23_Ed3_1953_EN.pdf |website=Limits of Oceans and Seas |publisher=International Hydrographic organization |access-date=19 February 2024 |pages=14 of 42 |date=1953 |quote=Limits of Oceans and Seas}}</ref>
:''On the Northeast:'' A line running from [[Cape Bauld]] (North point of [[Quirpon Island|Kirpon Island]], {{Coord|51|40|N|55|25|W|display=inline}}) to the East extreme of [[Belle Isle (Newfoundland and Labrador)|Belle Isle]]<ref name="Strait of Belle Isle, toponymy">{{cite web |title=Strait of Belle Isle |url=https://toponymie.gouv.qc.ca/ct/ToposWeb/Fiche.aspx?no_seq=228162 |website=Gouvernement of Quebec |publisher=Commission de Toponymy Quebec |access-date=14 August 2024 |language=fr |date=13 December 1988 |quote=In addition to Grande Bay, this arm of the sea had notably borne the names of Friar Lewis, on maps from 1505, then Gulf of Chasteaulx, Charles Streights and Passage du Nord which a cartographer describes as "subject to Glaces” later in the 16th and during the 17th century.}}</ref> and on to the Northeast Ledge ({{Coord|52|02|N|55|15|W|display=inline}}). Thence a line joining this ledge with the East extreme of [[Cape St. Charles]] (52°13'N) in [[Labrador]].

:''On the Southeast:'' A line from [[Cape Canso]] ({{Coord|45|20|N|61|0|W|display=inline}}) to [[Red Point (Nova Scotia)|Red Point]] ({{Coord|45|35|N|60|45|W|display=inline}}) in Cape Breton Island, through this Island to Cape Breton [{{coord|45|57|N|59|47|W|display=inline}}] and on to Pointe Blanche ({{Coord|46|45|N|56|11|W|display=inline}}) in the Island of [[Saint-Pierre, Saint Pierre and Miquelon|St. Pierre]], and thence to the southwest point of Morgan Island ({{Coord|46|51|N|55|49|W|display=inline}}).

:''On the West:'' The meridian of 64°30'W from Pointe-Jaune ({{coord|49.06|N|64.5|W|format=dms|display=inline}}) to Magpie ({{coord|50.31|N|64.5|W|format=dms|display=inline}}), but the whole of Anticosti Island is included in the Gulf.

[[Image:011_015_Pointe_des_Monts.jpg|thumb|Pointe-des-Monts Lighthouse, [[Baie-Trinité, Quebec]]]]
At Baie-Trinité, the [[Baie-Trinité, Quebec#Pointe-des-Monts Lighthouse|Pointe-des-Monts Lighthouse]], a [[National Historic Sites of Canada|National historic site of Canada]], was built in 1829–1830 on a point that geographers throughout history, since as early as [[Samuel de Champlain]] (1567–1655), have classified as the demarcation point between the [[St. Lawrence River]] and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.<ref name="The Pointe-des-Monts Lighthouse">{{cite web |title=The Pointe-des-Monts Lighthouse |url=https://www.pharedepointedesmonts.com/ |publisher=Corporation de Promotion et de Développement du site du Phare historique de Pointe‑des‑Monts |access-date=25 February 2024 |language=fr |date=2024 |quote=Built on a rocky outcrop that forms an islet at high tide, the lighthouse bears witness to a time when navigation in the Gulf of St. Lawrence was perilous.}}</ref><ref name="The Canadian Lighthouse">{{cite web |author1=Edward F. Bush |title=The Canadian Lighthouse |url=http://parkscanadahistory.com/series/chs/9/chs9-eng.pdf |publisher=National Historic Parks and Sites, Branch, Indian and Northern Affairs |access-date=25 February 2024 |pages=55 of 188 |date=1975 |quote=The first lighthouse, completed in 1830, had walls six feet thick at the base, tapering to two feet at the lantern deck.20}}</ref>

[[Fisheries and Oceans Canada]]'s "Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence planning area" covers most of the [[Estuary of St. Lawrence|Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence]] bioregion, an area with some of the warmest surface waters in [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] Canada during summer and the largest amount of sea ice during winter. The planning area is approximately 240,000&nbsp;km².<ref name="Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence - Fisheries and Oceans Canada">{{cite web |title=Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence |url=https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/oceans/planning-planification/areas-aires/estuary-gulf-st-lawrence-estuaire-golfe-saint-laurent-eng.html |website=Government of Canada |publisher=Fisheries and Oceans Canada |access-date=19 February 2024 |date=2023-01-27 |quote=The area represents one of the largest and most productive estuarine/marine ecosystems in Canada and in the world.}}</ref>