Transport committee  I think I would have to do a little bit more research to answer that question. I know my colleagues at Laval have been looking at the river using GIS analysis and geomorphology and have assessed that aspect to some extent. Dr. Ridal and I have also been talking about this question.

Transport committee  Again, thank you. I know the National Research Council currently has a very big initiative to study nature-based solutions for coastal protection. I don't know if it relates to the fact that this committee was struck. It's possible. I have colleagues, and I'm in fact involved in some projects related to that.

Transport committee  I think Mayor Villeneuve already mentioned LiDAR surveys. It's now possible to measure shoreline dimensions at very high resolution through very large domains. That wasn't possible when the seaway was built. I think there's a chance for using those technologies to look at bank recession rates.

Transport committee  Thank you for the question. Yes, in fact, two conservation authorities are part of the study. Their involvement is basically an interest in understanding the wave energy effect on the shoreline so that they can come up with proposed methods of shoreline stabilization.

Transport committee  On this particular study, no, but maybe Dr. Ridal now has a bit more information on his interactions with IJC with respect to the St. Lawrence.

Transport committee  Thank you for the question. I know there has been a lot of research in rivers since the nineties and more recently in coastal engineering to try to incorporate natural solutions. The historic method is to basically put in a lot of rock and, in very high-wave environments, to put in interlocking armour stone that will not move.

Transport committee  Thank you for the question. I know you are speaking downstream of Montreal in your case. We're upstream. Again, it is a site-specific phenomenon. It makes sense to look at all the sources. Certainly it has been observed downstream of Montreal that the very large drawdown and surge are significant sources.

Transport committee  With our particular study, we just haven't collected or analyzed all the data yet. Only after we've been able to finish the study will I hopefully be able to distinguish the erosion due to regular river currents versus ship wake versus wind waves. I agree. Rivers erode naturally.

Transport committee  That's right. That's why we tend to get more erosion during floods in spring.

Transport committee  I'll start and Dr. Ridal can follow. I can reference one study for the Savannah River in Georgia. There's an island, and the ship channel is on one side of the island. They set up a study to see what the wave height was on the other side of the island as well as on the exposed side.

Transport committee  Yes, you're absolutely right that some pleasure craft—wakeboard boats, actually—create quite large waves. It's because they displace quite a lot of water. It's done on purpose to make a wave for surfing. The difference is this drawdown and long-period surge wave that large container ships create.

Transport committee  No, not directly. We'd have to get to the numerical modelling part to be able to do that, because we're only studying what's happening right now.

Transport committee  I know that Dr. Ridal has been communicating about this, so I'll ask him to answer this question.

Transport committee  That's a very broad question. I think I've already answered that it makes some sense to me that there be at least some assessment of the speeds ships can travel to have reasonable-sized wakes in particular locations. It's very site-specific. I think speed limits at different locations need to be understood.

Transport committee  I know it's hard for academics to do it in 30 seconds.