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August 2008

Vol. 13, No. 35 Week of August 31, 2008

Harper: Ships sailing in NW Passage must report to Canada’s Coast Guard

Canada’s prime minister moved to firm up control of disputed Arctic waters Aug. 27 by announcing stricter registration requirements for ships sailing in the Northwest Passage.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said all ships sailing into the Canadian Arctic will be required to report to NORDREG, the Canadian Coast Guard agency that tracks vessels on such journeys. Such registration is currently voluntary.

Canada’s control of the Northwest Passage is widely disputed internationally, including by the United States and the European Union. Most countries consider the passage to be international waters.

Global warming has raised the stakes in the scramble for sovereignty in the Arctic because shrinking polar ice could some day open up resource development and new shipping lanes.

Record traffic in Arctic

The rapid melting of ice has raised speculation that the Northwest Passage linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans could one day become a regular shipping lane. This summer has seen record traffic by cruise ships and pleasure craft in the Arctic.

The fabled Northwest Passage runs from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Arctic archipelago. European explorers sought the passage as a shorter route to Asia, but found it rendered inhospitable by ice and weather.

Ships now must register with NORDREG to gain access to Canadian Coast Guard information on weather and ice conditions and the great majority of them do.

Private pleasure craft, however, usually don’t. In the past, some cruise ships have also sailed into the passage without telling the coast guard.

It wasn’t immediately clear how the new requirements would be enforced.

—The Associated Press





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