Koksoak River

The Koksoak River (in French, rivière Koksoak) is the largest river in Nunavik, Québec, Canada. The name of the Inuit village and administrative center that lies on the shores of the Koksoak, Kuujjuaq, translates as "great river." Koksoak is believed to be an earlier written form of this Inuktitut word.

The Koksoak River arises at the confluence of its two main tributaries, the Rivière aux Mélèzes to the west and the Caniapiscau River to the south. The Koksoak River flows for about 100 km in an east-northeasterly direction into Ungava Bay, and passes by the village of Kuujjuaq, which lies about 50 km from the coast. The total length of the Koksoak River and its main tributary, the Caniapiscau River, is approximately 874 kilometres (543 miles) and the size of the drainage basin is about 133,000 square kilometres. However, the upper waters of the Canaipiscau River were diverted in 1985 to the La Grande hydroelectric complex and about 45 % of the waterflow of the Caniapiscau now flows through the Caniapiscau Reservoir and on into James Bay in the west. The catchment area of the Caniapiscau Reservoir is about 36,800 square kilometres.

The Koksoak river has an estimated mean discharge of approximately 55km³ of water per year - though the absence of long streamgauging records means accurate data are not available. Most of the flow occurs during the early summer when the ice on the river thaws and snow in the Canadian Shield melts. The Koksoak River lies on the boundary between the northern limit of the boreal forest and the vast tundra expanses of the Ungava Peninsula to the north. All the Koksoak basin is covered with permafrost - discontinuous in the south and continuous in the north.

Although hunting activities and administrative services are a mainstay of life in Kuujjuaq, adventure tourism is expanding, centered mostly on caribou hunting as well as salmon, trout and arctic char fishing.

Further reading

• Breton-Provencher, Mimi. Summary of Information About the Koksoak River Region. [S.l.]: Société d'énergie de la baie James, Groupe d'étude conjoint Caniapiscau-Koksoak, 1982.
• Hydro-Québec. The Salmon of the Koksoak. Montreal: Hydro-Québec, 1984. ISBN 2550115198
• Kwan, Michael K. H. Mercury and Selenium in Fish from the Koksoak River. [Kuujjuaq, Quebec]: Makivik Corporation, 1999.
• Lalumière, Richard, Roger Le Jeune, and André Boudreault. Effects of a Streamflow Reduction on the Caniapiscau and Koksoak Rivers. [S.l.]: Caniapiscau-Koksoak Joint Study Group, James Bay Energy Corp, 1985.
• Makivik Corporation. The Koksoak River Fishery, 1982. Kuujjuaq, Quebec: Makivik Corporation, 1986.
• Messier, Danielle. Synthesis of Physical Modifications in the Koksoak River Estuary Following the Cutoff of the Caniapiscau River. [S.l.]: Société d'énergie de la baie James, Direction Ingénierie et environnement [Groupe d'étude conjoint Caniapiscau-Koksoak], 1985.

External links

• Nunavik Tourism Association
• Kativik Regional Government