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Canada fumbles Arctic mapping
Canada is ill-equipped to oversee marine traffic in the Arctic because it lacks marine charts, navigation aids and icebreaking equipment, says an audit by federal Environment Commissioner Julie Gelfand.
The report said that although vessel movement in the area is on the increase, higher-risk areas are poorly surveyed and charted and rely on maps that in many cases are more than 40 years old and were produced with antiquated technology.
In addition, the Canadian Coast Guard is unable to properly meet growing demand for new and improved fixed navigational aids, such as beacons and shore lights.
The report said that despite the growth in Arctic traffic and a shipping season that keeps extending, icebreakers are spending less time in the Arctic, while the Coast Guard does not have the resources to deal with a rising demand for its services, noting that plans to update some of the fleet and decommission some vessels will limit the number of available icebreakers to five through 2021.
It said Canada lacks a national vision or coordinated department strategy to ensure safe Arctic marine navigation, while the Coast Guard was unable to say whether its services are meeting the needs of users, nor has it fully assessed the level of risk posed by its reduced presence in the Arctic.
Lack of maps cited Green Party leader Elizabeth May told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that the lack of proper maps and charts for the region is a “significant worry to people who study the Arctic.”
She found it surprising that the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has been a leading advocate of economic development in the Arctic through his highly-touted Northern Strategy, is failing to provide services for resource companies that need to operate in Arctic waters to develop the area.
“We’re looking at potentially 300 more navigations through these waters in the near term in order to accommodate development interests,” May said.
Megan Leslie, environment spokesman for the New Democratic Party, said the increasing volume of marine traffic in the Arctic poses a serious concern about how an accident would be handled.
“There is a really small window right now when we could actually do a cleanup,” she said. “We’ve seen a lot of discussion about drilling in the Arctic and that’s one of the major concerns if something were to happen.”
Gelfand told reporters the Canadian Hydrographic Service should establish a priority list of the “important places in the Arctic that need to be charted ... where do we need to put the resources?”
Transport Minister Lisa Raitt said her department has been delving into the concerns “for a very long period of time.”
“We actually have a world-class tanker panel that had been looking at safety, including specifically on shipping in the North,” and should “soon” complete its work, she said.
- Gary Park
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