The Napetipi River () is a salmon river in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. It empties into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

Location

The Napetipi River is  long, of which about  or 10.7% is in Labrador.
The river's Strahler number is 5.
The main channel's headwaters are at an elevation of about .
It falls steeply in the upper sections, by nearly  in the first , then becomes flatter and in the last  drops by only  or so.
Along most of its length it flows between high rocky shores.
It widens along its length to form Lake Jamyn (or Napetipiu Nipi) and Lake Napetipi about  from its mouth.

The mouth of the river is in the municipality of Saint-Augustin in Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent Regional County Municipality.
The mouth is about  from the village of Saint-Augustin.
The river empties into the narrow Napetipi Bay which reaches inland for about  between high rocky shores.
It provides little shelter from southerly winds.

Name

The name Napetipi is Innu in origin and means "river of man". 
Some authors suggest the Saint-Jacques River, mentioned by Jacques Cartier during his first voyage in 1534, was the Napetipi River and bay.
In his 1890 report on the Napetipi River, surveyor Henry Robertson mentions that "there are many seals in Napetipi Lake".

Description

The Dictionnaire des rivières et lacs de la province de Québec (1914) says,

Basin

The Napetipi River basin covers .
It lies between the basins of the Chécatica River to the west and the Saint-Paul River to the east.
About  or 4.7% of the watershed is in Labrador.
The average elevation of the watershed is , rising to over  in the north, with the highest point at .
The Quebec portion is partly in the unorganized territory of Petit-Mécatina and partly in the municipalities of Saint-Augustin and Bonne-Espérance.

Environment

A map of the ecological regions of Quebec shows the Napetipi River in sub-regions 6o-T, 6n-T and 6m-T of the east spruce/moss subdomain.
85.4% of the watershed is forested, and 3.5% has other forms of dry land vegetation. 8.3% is water covered, and 1.2% is wetlands.
Annual daily mean temperature is , ranging from  in January to  in July.
Annual precipitation is .
The river basin include part of the proposed Basses Collines du Lac Guernesé Biodiversity Reserve.
The biodiversity reserve would protect that part of the river from hydroelectric development.
The basin is home to mammals such as black bear, moose, wolf, American mink and red fox.

Fishing

The Napetipi River is recognized as an Atlantic salmon river.
The waters are cool, and salmon are unusually energetic.
Other fish are anadromous brook trout and brown trout.
The Napetipi River Outfiters has exclusive rights, located on the shore of Lake Pareme, north-west of Lake Napetipi.
They recommend the release of all catches.
The river had exceeded its target for salmon management, and in July 2018 the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks announced that in August anglers could keep their catch of one large salmon  or longer in the Gros Mécatina, Napetipi, Saint-Paul, Vieux Fort and Matapedia rivers.

Notes

Sources

Rivers of Côte-Nord