Chécatica River

The Chécatica River (French: Rivière Chécatica) is a salmon river in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. It empties into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

Chécatica River Rivière Chécatica
Native name	Netshikatikau Hipis  (Innu)
Location
Country	Canada
Province	Quebec
Region	Côte-Nord
RCM	Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent
Physical characteristics
Mouth	Gulf of Saint Lawrence
• coordinates	51.3869444°N 58.2797222°W / 51.3869444; -58.2797222
• elevation	0 metres (0 ft)
Length	30 kilometres (19 mi)
Basin size	193 square kilometres (75 sq mi)

Location

The Chécatica River is about 30 kilometres (19 mi) long, and runs from north to south. In some sections it widens into lakes, including Lake Chécatica. It enters Jacques-Cartier Bay on the Saint Lawrence about 80 kilometres (50 mi) west of Blanc-Sablon. The bay is a waterbody with an irregular outline, containing many points, inlets and islands. Chécatica Island is at the entrance to the bay. Along the coast to the west, near one of the inlets, there is a small hamlet named Shekatika.[1] The mouth of the Chécatica River is in the municipality of Saint-Augustin in Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent Regional County Municipality.[2]

Name

The Innu call the river Netshikatikau Hipis or Netsheskatakau Shipis. According to Father Georges Lemoine the name comes from shikatikau and means there are bushes beside the water. Variants include Ouescatacou and Ouescatacouau.[1] On his first voyage in 1534 Jacques Cartier went by shallop to Chécatica, which he called Port de Jacques-Cartier. He found indigenous people in quite large numbers.[3]

Basin

The river basin covers 193 square kilometres (75 sq mi). It lies between the basins of the Coxipi River to the west and the Napetipi River to the east.[4] It is partly in the unorganized territory of Petit-Mécatina and partly in the municipality of Saint-Augustin.[5]

A map of the ecological regions of Quebec shows the river in sub-regions 6o-T, 6n-T and 6m-T of the east spruce/moss subdomain.[6] In 2002 the northern part of the river, to the east of Lake Tooker, was in territory that was seriously affected by hemlock looper moths (Lambdina fiscellaria).[7] The river is recognized as an Atlantic salmon river.[8] There are also brook trout in the river.[9]

Notes

1. Rivière Chécatica, Commission.
2. Rivière Chécatica, Ressources naturelles.
3. Annales de la propagation de la foi, p. 205.
4. Bourdon et al. 2015, p. 20.
5. Bourdon et al. 2015, p. 64.
6. Saucier et al. 2011.
7. Aires infestées par l'arpenteuse de la pruche, p. 8.
8. Liste des rivières à saumon.
9. Bourque, Provost & Mazo 2009, p. 129.

Sources

• Aires infestées par l'arpenteuse de la pruche, au Québec, en 2002 (in French), Ministère des Ressources naturelles, de la Faune et des Parcs, 30 March 2005, retrieved 2019-10-11
• Annales de la propagation de la foi pour la province de Québec, Oeuvre de la propagation de la foi, 1886
• Bourdon, Philippe; Ibrahim, Ghassen; Luce, Myriam; NantobBikatui, N'Binkéna; Othoniel, Clara; Tremblay, Yohann (April 2015), Portrait préliminaire de la zone de gestion intégrée de l'eau par bassin versant (PDF) (in French), OBV Duplessis, retrieved 2019-09-24
• Bourque, Mylène; Provost, Virginie; Mazo, Gabriel (2009), Guide d'intervention en matiere de conservation et de mise en valeur des habitats littoraux d'interet en Basse-Cote-Nord (PDF) (in French), Comité ZIP Côte-Nord du Golfe, retrieved 2019-10-11
• Liste des rivières à saumon (PDF) (in French), Quebec government, retrieved 2019-10-11
• Rivière Chécatica (in French), Commission de toponymie du Québec, retrieved 2019-10-12
• Rivière Chécatica (in French), Ressources naturelles Canada, retrieved 2019-10-11
• Saucier, J.-P.; Robitaille, A.; Grondin, P.; Bergeron, J.-F.; Gosselin, J. (2011), Les régions écologiques du Québec méridional (PDF) (map), 4 (in French), Ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune, retrieved 2019-09-26