The Strait of Belle Isle (; french: Détroit de Belle Isle ) is a waterway in eastern

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 to ...

that separates the

Labrador Peninsula The Labrador Peninsula, or Quebec-Labrador Peninsula, is a large peninsula in eastern Canada. It is bounded by the Hudson Bay to the west, the Hudson Strait to the north, the Labrador Sea to the east, and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the so ...

from the island of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, in the province of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

Location

The strait is the northern outlet for the

Gulf of Saint Lawrence , image = Baie de la Tour.jpg , alt = , caption = Gulf of St. Lawrence from Anticosti National Park, Quebec , image_bathymetry = Golfe Saint-Laurent Depths fr.svg , alt_bathymetry = Bathymetry ...

, the other two being the

Cabot Strait Cabot Strait (; french: détroit de Cabot, ) is a strait in eastern Canada approximately 110 kilometres wide between Cape Ray, Newfoundland and Cape North, Cape Breton Island. It is the widest of the three outlets for the Gulf of Saint L ...

and

Strait of Canso The Strait of Canso (also Gut of Canso or Canso Strait, also called Straits of Canceau or Canseaux until the early 20th century) is a strait located in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It divides the Nova Scotia peninsula from Cape Breton ...

. As such, it is also considered part of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system. The strait is approximately long and ranges from a maximum width of to just at its narrowest, the average width being .

Origins of name

The name is derived from the island of Belle Isle (

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

for "Beautiful Island"), which is at the extreme eastern end of the strait and roughly equidistant from

Table Head Table Head is a Neighborhood in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Glace Bay in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality on Cape Breton Island. History On December 15, 1902 Guglielmo Marconi established trans-Atlantic communication bet ...

Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...

, and Cape Bauld,

History

Both the island of Newfoundland as well as the Labrador region which surrounds the Strait of Belle Isle have been inhabited by Indigenous Peoples for millennia. The surrounding land environment has historically been replete with

caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

and other mammals.

Harbour seals The harbor (or harbour) seal (''Phoca vitulina''), also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped (walruses, eared se ...

grey seals The grey seal (''Halichoerus grypus'') is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. In Latin Halichoerus grypus means "hook-nosed sea pig". It is a large seal of the family Phocidae, which are commonly referred to as "true seals" or " ...

, ringed seals and many other aquatic species are found in the strait itself. An unnamed manuscript references

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

nomenclature for Labrador and Newfoundland, (

Markland Markland () is the name given to one of three lands on North America's Atlantic shore discovered by Leif Eriksson around 1000 AD. It was located south of Helluland and north of Vinland. Although it was never recorded to be settled by Norsemen, ...

and

Vinland Vinland, Vineland, or Winland ( non, Vínland ᚠᛁᚾᛚᛅᚾᛏ) was an area of coastal North America explored by Vikings. Leif Erikson landed there around 1000 AD, nearly five centuries before the voyages of Christopher Columbus and John ...

, respectively), and appears to note the existence of the Strait of Belle Isle: "And if such is the case, then an ocean flows into a strait between Markland and Vínland."

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

whalers visited the area throughout the 17th century and into the first decade of the 18th century, with the wreckage site of the ''San Juan'' at Red Bay dating as early as 1565. Basque seafarers also came into contact with the

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territorie ...

, which either led to conflict or collaboration over sealing areas.

Navigation and transport

Navigation in the strait can be extremely hazardous with strong tidal currents interacting with the

Labrador Current The Labrador Current is a cold current in the North Atlantic Ocean which flows from the Arctic Ocean south along the coast of Labrador and passes around Newfoundland, continuing south along the east coast of Canada near Nova Scotia. Near Nova Scot ...

, depths reaching several hundred metres in places,

sea ice Sea ice arises as seawater freezes. Because ice is less dense than water, it floats on the ocean's surface (as does fresh water ice, which has an even lower density). Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth's surface and about 12% of the world's o ...

for 8 to 10 months of the year, and variable weather conditions including gales and fog. While sea ice prevents year-round shipping, the

Canadian Coast Guard The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; french: links=no, Garde côtière canadienne, GCC) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues ...

maintains a vessel traffic service (VTS) to ensure collisions do not occur. The VTS is voluntary currently. A

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water ta ...

service operates at the western part of strait between St. Barbe, Newfoundland, and Blanc Sablon,

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 thirte ...

. New road construction for the

Trans-Labrador Highway The Trans-Labrador Highway (TLH) is a highway located in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is the primary public road in Labrador. Its total length is . The complete paving of the highway was completed in July 2022. The ...

resulted in the removal of ferry services to outports in the northeastern part of the strait in 2002.

Fixed link

The idea of building a

fixed link A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

across the strait between Labrador and Newfoundland, known as the Newfoundland-Labrador fixed link, has been raised numerous times in recent decades following an unsuccessful attempt to build a tunnel carrying electrical wires in the mid-1970s. If such a link were built, it would likely be a submerged

rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...

tunnel. The proposal is meant to reduce the province's reliance upon the Marine Atlantic ferry service to

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, but the project's high costs and lack of suitable road network between Labrador and Quebec have been cited as major obstacles. In 1975, the Progressive Conservative government led by

Frank Moores Frank Duff Moores (February 18, 1933 – July 10, 2005) served as the second premier of Newfoundland. He served as leader of the Progressive Conservatives from 1972 until his retirement in 1979. Moores was also a successful businessman in bo ...

committed to building a tunnel across the strait. A hole was dug on the Labrador side and the government spent $75-million before the project was abandoned. The October 2003 provincial election resulted in the newly elected Progressive Conservative government announcing joint federal-provincial funding for a study of the concept. A pre-feasibility report was released in February 2005, which concluded that a tunnel bored using tunnel boring machines, with an electric train shuttle to transport vehicles is the most technically and economically attractive option. The estimated construction cost of the fixed link was $1.2 billion (2004$) and total development cost of about $1.7 billion. In 2016, Premier

Dwight Ball Dwight Ball (born December 21, 1957) is a Canadian politician who was the 13th premier of Newfoundland and Labrador from December 14, 2015, to August 19, 2020, and an MHA. He represented the electoral district of Humber Valley in the Newfoundla ...

launched a new pre-feasibility study to determine the costs of a tunnel link between the island and Labrador. The study released its results in April 2018, and concluded that a undersea rail tunnel connecting L'Anse Amour in southern Labrador and Yankee Point near

Flower's Cove Flower's Cove is a town in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The town had a population of 272 in the Canada 2021 Census. It is known for its thrombolite fossils. Geography ;Climate Flower's Cove has a subarctic climate (Kopp ...

on the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland could be constructed at a cost of C$1.65 billion. In their 2019 election platform, the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia' ...

indicated support for a National Infrastructure Fund, including the Newfoundland-Labrador fixed transportation link, likely linking Yankee Point, Newfoundland with Point Amour on the (Labrador) mainland. A submarine cable across the strait is under construction as part of the

Lower Churchill Project The Lower Churchill Project is an ongoing hydroelectric project in the Labrador region of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, to develop the remaining 35 per cent of the Churchill River that was not developed by the Churchill Falls Generating Sta ...

References

External links

Strait of Belle Isle ecoregion

World VTS Guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strait Of Belle Isle Belle Isle