The events that have an impact on water levels and climate change are definitely not the same in the Magdalen Islands, which are exposed to storms, as they are in the section of the St. Lawrence including Contrecœur and the archipelagos. Consequently, it's very hard to attribute clear consequences in that respect. Water levels in the river are very much controlled by the various dams in the St. Lawrence system. Furthermore, since the channel is narrow, winds and storms necessarily play a less important role there than you might see in the lower estuary. The gigantic waves of two or three metres that can be observed in the Magdalen Islands don't break in the fluvial section of the St. Lawrence.
Ship and boat wake thus creates waves in a system where waves otherwise are few. It's important to understand that, and some of our data shows that wake is of quite significant importance. In the spring, for example, floating ice combined with waves created by boat wake also cause considerable abrasion. That's all we can explain now regarding ship and boat wake based on the data we have.
Natural processes have a role to play, but the presence of the seaway adds to the river's natural perturbation regime and also tends to leave certain shorelines more vulnerable. Now, with lower speed limits, many factors are changing because human behaviour is hard to predict.
That's all I can explain for the moment.