The Romaine River (), known also as the Kanatuahkuiau, Uanaman Hipu, and Uepatauekat Shipu, is a river in eastern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It flows from north to south, emptying into the Jacques Cartier Strait in the municipality of

Havre-Saint-Pierre Havre-Saint-Pierre () is a municipality located on the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in Côte-Nord region, Minganie RCM, Quebec, Canada. History In 1857, a group of Acadian families arrived, in 1872, the Parish of Saint-Pierre-d ...

. The Romaine is a salmon river located in Minganie RCM,

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, ...

, and

Labrador Labrador () is a geographic and cultural region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primarily continental portion of the province and constitutes 71% of the province's area but is home to only 6% of its populatio ...

regions within the provinces of

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

and

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...

Geography

The Romaine River is long. It is not to be confused with the

Olomane River The Olomane River () is a river in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. Location The Olomane basin covers . It lies between the basins of the Washicoutai River to the west and the Coacoachou River to the east. It includes part of the unorga ...

that is to the east and which had the same name for many years. The river is about long. It has its source on the boundary between the Atlantic and St. Lawrence watersheds, and flows first through a series of lakes, including the Long, Marc, Brûlé, Lavoie, Anderson, and Lozeau. This portion of the river to just past the confluence with Uauahkue Patauan Creek forms the boundary between Quebec and Labrador. Then it flows in a mostly southerly direction until a dozen miles from the coast where it takes a sharp turn to the west, flowing through a series of swampy waterlogged small lakes. The Romaine River flows into Jacques Cartier Strait, part of Gulf of St. Lawrence, west of

and

Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve or Mingan Archipelago Heritage Site bathes in the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in the administrative region of Côte-Nord, in Minganie RCM, Havre-Saint-Pierre municipality, facing Anticosti Island ...

. The river has a

Strahler number In mathematics, the Strahler number or Horton–Strahler number of a mathematical tree (graph theory), tree is a numerical measure of its branching complexity. These numbers were first developed in hydrology, as a way of measuring the complexity ...

of 7. File:Carte de la partie orientale de la Nouvelle France ou du Canada.png, Eastern part of

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...

, Jacques Nicolas Bellin, name R. d'eau Ramane, 1744 File:Quebec Map with Hydro-Québec infrastructures-fr.png, Hydro-Québec, hydroelectric development 2016 File:Havre St Pierre 002.jpg, From the Alexandre-Tanguay bridge, reinforced concrete beam bridge #02498 on Route 138 File:Havre St Pierre 003.jpg, Flows into the Jacques Cartier Strait, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence File:Rivière Romaine-2.jpg, Near Havre-St-Pierre

Toponymy

The name ''Romaine'', in use since the end of the 19th century, is a French adaptation of a word from a First Nations language, ''Ouraman'' or ''Ulaman'', as noted by

Jean-Baptiste-Louis Franquelin Jean-Baptiste-Louis Franquelin (; 1650-c.1712) was a French trader who was appointed in the early 1670s as the first Cartography, cartographer in ''Nouvelle France'' (Canada) by the colony's governor. He was appointed in 1688 as a royal Hydrography ...

in 1685, while

Jacques-Nicolas Bellin Jacques Nicolas Bellin (; 1703 – 21 March 1772) was a French hydrographer, geographer, and member of the French intellectual group called the philosophes. Bellin was born in Paris. He was hydrographer of France's hydrographic office, membe ...

wrote ''Ramane'' on his map of 1744. It comes from , meaning "vermilion" or "

red ochre Ochre ( ; , ), iron ochre, or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the col ...

". Deposits of this material are found on the banks of the Olomane River.

Localisation

The Romaine River basin covers . It lies between the basins of the Mingan River to the west and the Rivière à l'Ours (Bear river) to the east. About 15.5% of the basin is in Labrador north of the provincial boundary. In Quebec the basin includes parts of the unorganized territory of Lac-Jérôme and the municipality of

. The Mine du lac Tio, an

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

and

titanium Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...

mine, is in the river basin. It also includes the proposed Buttes du Lac aux Sauterelles biodiversity reserve (Katnukamat Biodiversity Reserve).

Katnukamat Biodiversity Reserve

Réserve de biodiversité Katnukamat is located in the backcountry of the

, it's part of the unorganized territory of Lac-Jérôme in Minganie MRC. The protected area is about 165 km north-northwest of

and about 155 km north of the Innu community ( Ekuanishit).

Tributaries

The Romaine River includes several important tributaries: the Puyjalon river at the southern end of the watershed, the Romaine Sud-Est and Abbé-Huard rivers in the southeast, the Garneau river in the center-east, the Touladis river in the center- west, the Sauterelles River to the northwest, the Sénécal River and its network of lakes to the northeast and the Natuaiahu Creek at the northern end.

Hydroelectric development

In September 2007, a study of 490 pages conducted by

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 ...

, submitted to the Minister of Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change highlighted the importance of the work planned for the development of the Complexe de la Romaine. Numerous consultations with the public as well as various discussions with the community and local authorities made it possible to disclose the major environmental issues of the project, namely: *Economic benefits *Opening up the territory, crossing the Romaine by

snowmobile A snowmobile, also known as a snowmachine (chiefly Alaskan), motor sled (chiefly Canadian), motor sledge, skimobile, snow scooter, or simply a sled is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. Their engines normally ...

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

and

trapping Animal trapping, or simply trapping or ginning, is the use of a device to remotely catch and often kill an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including for meat, fur trade, fur/feathers, sport hunting, pest control, and w ...

activities *Preservation of wildlife resources and their

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

(particularly that of salmon) *Presevation or the integrity of the

In December 2007, Hydro-Québec's Geomatics Department published an information document intended for the public concerned by the Romaine Complex project, consisting of 6 detailed maps: #Constituent

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

#Sport

and

# Commercial fishing zones #

Snowmobile A snowmobile, also known as a snowmachine (chiefly Alaskan), motor sled (chiefly Canadian), motor sledge, skimobile, snow scooter, or simply a sled is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. Their engines normally ...

trail network downstream from the Romaine-2 site #Navigation on the Romaine River, locations of

rapids Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep stream gradient, gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Flow, gradient, constriction, and obstacles are four factors that are needed for a rapid t ...

weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

and

portage Portage or portaging ( CA: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a '' ...

s #Typical

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

s The Romaine River is being developed by

for hydro-electric power generation. Construction started in 2009 on a new hydroelectric plant, along with four rock-filled dams and a long access road, that will take 11 years to build at an estimated cost of 6.5 billion. Called "the biggest construction project in Canada", the project will employ an estimated 2000 people between 2012 and 2016, and create some 3.5 billion in economic spinoffs. The final project will include four new power plants with a total installed capacity of more than 1550 MW and an average annual production of 8.0

TWh TWH or twh could refer to: * Tai Dón language, a language of Vietnam, Laos, and China * Tai Wo Hau station, Hong Kong; MTR station code * Tennessee Walking Horse, a breed of horse * Toronto Western Hospital, a hospital in Toronto, Canada * Tun ...

. This project is controversial however, as the cost of electricity production may be higher than the price at which the electricity will be sold, as shown in a 2010 documentary called "Chercher le courant" ("Seeking The Current") by Nicolas Boisclair and Alexis de Gheldère. The film argues that the Romaine project is unnecessary, unprofitable, and ecologically destructive. It is also opposed by the Fondation Rivières.

Fauna

The Romaine River is home to the

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 ...

that swims upstream as far as the Grande Chute. Other fish species are

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 ...

(found along the river's entire length),

Lake trout The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater Salvelinus, char living mainly in lakes in Northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, laker, and grey trout. In Lake Sup ...

(in most lakes), and

Landlocked 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 Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlantic salmon a ...

(upstream of Grande Chute). *

Salvelinus fontinalis 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 ha ...

. — Omble de Fontaine. — (Brook trout). *

Salvelinus namaycush The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater char living mainly in lakes in Northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, laker, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, it c ...

. — Touladi. — (Lake trout, Mackinaw, Togue, Gray trout, Namaycush). *

Salmo salar 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 ...

. — Saumon atlantique, Saumon ouananiche. — (Atlantic salmon, Landlocked salmon).

References

External links

*
Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks
Quebec *

Royal Canadian Geographical Society The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS; French: ''Société géographique royale du Canada'') is a Canadian nonprofit educational organization. It has dedicated itself to spreading a broader knowledge and deeper appreciation of Canada, i ...

Maze to the Aguanish
a 680 kilometre

canoe A canoe is a lightweight, narrow watercraft, water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using paddles. In British English, the term ' ...

trip through the wilds of

and

, that traverse the headwaters of the Romaine and the Petit-Mécatina rivers, 2021 *Tim Jones 2024
Meet the crown Prince of Newfoundland and Labrador
Ouananiche. Landlocked Atlantic salmon, beautiful fish that lives in some of the most remote and beautiful places in all of North America. {{Authority control Rivers of Côte-Nord