Excellent question. It leads us to take a closer look at the life of this fish.
At Île aux Bœufs, we'll create 3.29 hectares of fish habitat. The area will double after six years to around 6.2 hectares. In nearly 15 years, it will have quadrupled to 12.6 hectares. You must understand that the St. Lawrence River has 30,000 hectares of fish foraging habitat.
Will the situation of the copper redhorse improve?
In total, the Port of Montreal will invest $17 million in this species at risk before the Contrecœur terminal opens in 2030. No one has ever invested that much money in this fish.
You need to understand that this fish lives for around 35 years. It's born in the Chambly basin of the Richelieu River, which doesn't have any speed measures. You must know that Quebec doesn't have any universal speed measures for the protection of its banks.
I don't know whether you're familiar with the Richelieu River. The copper redhorse obviously spawns close to the banks. It's born there and it lives there for two years. After two years, it feeds in the St. Lawrence River. When the little snails are no longer on the blades of grass, they return to the Richelieu River. They don't reproduce until they're 10 years old.
The foraging habitat for this fish will increase to around 12 hectares. However, for the past 20 years, this fish has been considered a species at risk. Could we all work together, from its birth to its growth and throughout its life, to preserve it?