Chaleur Bay

Chaleur Bay, French Baie des Chaleurs, inlet of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, extending between Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula and northern New Brunswick, Canada, and called by the Indians the “sea of fish.” It is a submerged valley of the Restigouche River and is 90 miles (145 km) long and 15 to 25 miles (24 to 40 km) wide. The bay receives many rivers besides the Restigouche, including the Nepisiguit, Cascapédia, and Matapédia. The islands of Miscou and Shippegan are located near its mouth. Major settlements along the bay shore are Campbellton, Dalhousie, and Bathurst (in New Brunswick) and New Richmond and New Carlisle (in Quebec). The bay is noted for its mackerel fishing, and salmon and trout are caught in nearby streams. The bay is now the site of one of the first exposed offshore aquaculture farms, devoted to the growing of blue mussels on submerged longlines.

Jacques Cartier, the French explorer, navigated the bay in July 1534 and named it Chaleur (meaning “heat”) because of the high temperatures he experienced there.