 Starting in the fall of 2013 a project led the L'Institut nordique de recherche en environnement et en santé au travail (Inrest) began to gather data on the physicochemical quality of water and sediments of the bay and islands, and to analyze the results to identify potential impacts on ecosystem health.The Saint Lawrence Global Observatory (OGSL) and the Institute of Ocean Sciences (ISMER) of the Université du Québec à Rimouski participated.The Sept-Rivières Regional County Municipality (MRC) declared in October 2005 that it intended to create a regional park in the Sept-Îles archipelago.