Boating traffic through the locks at Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue is down 50 to 70 per cent so far this month according to Parks Canada.
The high price of fuel and maintenance costs may explain some of the reasons for the decline.
”It is just part of the reality. It is expensive to have a boat. So people just may be going out less as well,” Patrick Tomasino of Parks Canada in charge of Historic Canals told Global News.
The volume is almost half of what is was 20 years ago, but that may be partly due to people now using larger boats with higher passenger capacities.
”Instead of having smaller, 18- to 20-foot vessels, now we’re looking at vessels that are approaching 27-to-30-foot range,” he said.
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Still, volume for the year is expected to be around 6,000 boats this season, on course with the last several years.
The canal at Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue links Lake Saint-Louis to the Lake of Two Mountains and the locks at this location have been in operation since 1843.
The canal remains the busiest in Quebec for recreational boating largely because it serves as the main gateway for people who move between the Lachine rapids and Oka Beach.
It’s a popular destination for many people Global News spoke to on a hot day in July.
”You take some fresh air, the sun, you can swim. Have a little dinner on the boat,” Sandra Laberge told Global News.
One of the largest boats that occasionally uses these locks is the Canadian Empress, a Saint-Lawrence cruise ship that normally navigates canals along the St-Lawrence Seaway.
”Being one of the smaller ships travelling through there, it’s nice to be the big guy once in a while,” Capt. John Chomniak, the St. Lawrence Cruise Lines operations manager, told Global News.
Spending time on the water and navigating through this historic landmark remains a leisure activity that many boaters still love to navigate.