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Highest Tides

A long-simmering feud between Arctic Quebec and the Maritimes over who has the world's highest ocean tides has been settled by federal scientists, but neither side is happy with the outcome. ( Map from Parks Canada)

Authorities at the Canadian Hydrographic Service, the agency responsible for mapping domestic waterways, have declared a tie between the famous tides of the Bay of Fundy and those of Ungava Bay on the northern coast of Quebec.

... the world's largest tides, "with a range from low to high tide that can exceed 16 metres at the head of the bay," has been wiped out after scientists determined it was in a tidal tie with Leaf Basin in the southwest corner of Ungava Bay.

They say the highest tides in Leaf Basin are 16.8 metres. The latest high tide data from Burntcoat Head, N.S., on the shore of the Minas Basin shows 17-metre tides.

The very highest tides only occur in each location once every 18 years, so these numbers are projected estimates using annual high tide averages. Because the projected difference between Ungava Bay and the Bay of Fundy is only 20 centimetres,  it is a tie.

Coastline and Shoreline

According to the Atlas of Canada, Shoreline and Coastline are different concepts:

• Coastline follows the general line of the coast, but sometimes, in the case of small inlets or bays, the coastline is measured as running directly across the bay or inlet to rejoin the coastline on the opposite side. Coastline is not measured as precisely as is shoreline.
• Shoreline is the perimeter of the land along the water's edge, measured to the closest exactness possible. Shoreline is, therefore, usually longer for a particular location than is its coastline.

Canada has the longest coastline of any country in the world. The coastline includes the mainland coast and also the coasts of offshore islands. The total length of Canada's coastline is 202 080 kilometres.

Please see the Atlas of Canada site for more details. 

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