Russian icebreaker Arktika unveiled last week in Russia. Nikita Greydin/Courtesy of Baltic Shipyard photo.
Russia launched its biggest nuclear ice breaker to date last week in St. Petersburg. The 567-foot, 33,500-ton Arktika comes as Russia has plans to expand shipping routes and overall presence in the Arctic region.
Arktika is the first of a new class of ships known as Type LK-60YA, The long – term plan is for three vessels all commissioned by Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom. Utilizing 80,000 hp (60 megawatts) to crush ice, Arktika will be able to break through thirteen feet thick sea – ice and forge shipping routes in the high Arctic. This will allow container shipping along northern routes that otherwise would be impassable. The ensuing two sister ships will be, Siberia and Urals and will be built in 2018 and 2020.
Launching of the Russian icebreaker Arktika in St. Petersburg last Thursday. Evgeny Uvarov/Ap photo.
“There are no icebreakers equivalent to Arktika anywhere in the world,” Rosatom CEO Sergey Kirienkoy. “The icebreaker Arktika means real new opportunities for our country.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin maintains that the Northern Sea Route could be a better trade route than the Suez canal for world trade, The new icebreakers will play an important role in facilitating this expansion via the shorter distance to Asia and Europe while forging a consistent new route through the Arctic.
Russian nuclear powered Yamal in the Arctic 2007. Getty Images photo.
Russia currently has six nuclear icebreakers in operation as well as more than 30 diesel vessels while the United States has three Coast Guard operated icebreakers which are non-nuclear. The US vessels command only a quarter of the power that the Arktika has. This overall disparity has some officials concerned that Russia is primed for gaining a huge advantage in Arctic shipping and also the exploration for gas and oil deposits in the seabed.
“We’re not even in the same league as Russia right now,” stated Coast Guard Commandant Paul F. Zukunft in 2015.
Coast guard icebreaker in the Arctic. US Coast guard photo.
The Obama administration is pressuring congress to approve construction of another Coast Guard icebreaker by 2020. Coast Guard has made it clear that the country needs to step up its fleet, “to ensure continued access to both polar regions and support the country’s economic, commercial, maritime and national security needs.” These needs come at a hefty price of roughly a billion dollars per ship.
Currently only five countries stake claim to the Arctic’s lands and waters: Russia, Norway, Canada, United States and Denmark.
A potential strike between Via Rail and its union Unifor was averted late Sunday thus allowing service across the country and specifically Churchill to continue this summer.
Churchill’s Via rail station with a train on the dock. Cartan Tours photo.
Unifor represents about 1,800 of Via’s 2,500 employees, was threatening a strike Monday at 12:01 a.m. However, Via announced via Twitter late Sunday that all trains would operate as scheduled. This news was greeted with a sigh of relief by many in Churchill as the busy beluga whale tourism season is starting now. With no roads into the town of Churchill, the only way to reach the polar bear capital is by train or airplane. Losing the more affordable train service would preclude many travelers from reaching the sub-Arctic village. That would also cause economic strife for many of Churchill’s businesses and seasonal workers.
Beluga whales in the Churchill river. Alex De Vries – Magnifico photo.
With this strike hurdle averted, we are hoping for another amazing Churchill Arctic Summer season with incredible surprises throughout. Stay tuned for updates from the tundra!
The most elusive Arctic bird for bird watchers in Churchill has returned to the region. Well, at least that’s what Parc’s Canada is claiming on their website and twitter accounts. Of course the bird really hasn’t resurfaced until you see it if you’re the one in quest of the life – lister. There have been some reports of sightings and word is getting around that in fact the “Ross” is here and waiting to be checked off your life list. Come try and see this elusive gull this treasure packed Churchill Arctic summer!
Ross’ gull along the rocky Churchill shore. Brian Small photo.
The Parasitic Jaegers employ a tactic known as kleptoparasitism as the birds chase down auks or gulls or in many cases above the Churchill River, Arctic terns. Jaegers harass the birds after they have procured a fish, usually capelin, until the frantic bird is so distressed that it drops its bounty toward the water in order to escape. The jaeger swiftly eats the bounty by catching it mid-air as the initial captor flies away.
Parasitic Jaeger with a capelin in mouth. Michel Windle photo.
The talented jaeger is able to maneuver with great speed in pursuit of its prey. The British Fleet Air Arms first naval dive – bomber, the Blackburn Skua was modeled and named after the parasitic jaeger. The bird can fly aptly into high winds by rapidly beating its wings and continuously shifting for buffeting purposes.The diet of the jaeger also includes small rodents and birds, eggs, insects and berries of the tundra. But hands down the most prosperous “prey” is the stolen one from other birds over the water. I witnessed many such incredible thefts as beluga whales churned up thousands of capelin over the Churchill River and Arctic terns plucked them from the water only to have them snatched by the jaegers.
The parasitic jaeger arrives in the north to breed in April or May and settles in loosely defined colonies. The female jaeger attracts a male through elaborate flying displays and some may mate together yearly while others choose new partners each season. Eggs are laid by June in the nests on the tundra and breeding pairs alternate nest watch. They protect the nest and young from predators by diving at the intruders at high speeds. As the juvenile jaegers are born, they leave the breeding grounds soon after in July. Breeding adults and fledglings remain through September at the latest.
Parasitic Jaeger over the tundra. Bill Coster photo.
When the time comes to fly south, they follow the coastline seemingly mimicing the paths of Arctic terns before heading farther out to sea. Most of this species winters near the South American coast or that of western Africa. The majority of immature jaegers will spend two years in the winter grounds before heading north to the bountiful northern habitats.
Nunuvut’s government is staking claim to artifacts from the HMS Erebus – one of two ships from the ill – fated Sir John Franklin expedition of 1845. Nunavut is refusing to issue Parks Canada dive permits unless Parks Canada relinquishes rights to artifacts found and retrieved from the seabed at the wreck sight of the Erebus in the waters of Victoria Strait, just off the coast of King William Island where it was discovered in September 2014. The Erebus is thought to be the ship on which Franklin perished during the ill fated expedition. The other lost ship, HMS Terror has yet to be found.
Parks Canada finally relented to the Nunavut request after realizing their divers could face arrest by the RCMP. Permission from Nunavut’s director of heritage must now be consulted before retrieving any artifacts from the site.
One of the cannons from the HMS Erebu is lifted to the surface during last year’s artifact recovery mission in the Arctic. Thierry Boyer/Parks Canada photo.
In addition to Nunavut, other claimants to the Erebus’ artifacts include the Kitikmeot Inuit, who claim ownership under a land claims treaty, as well as the British, who, since the ships and expedition were of British origin, and based on an agreement drafted in 1997, possess rights to claim any artifacts of “outstanding significance” to their Royal Navy. The agreement between Canada and Britain recognize ownership of the wrecks and their contents by Britain, though it acknowledges Britain will ultimately gift ownership to Canada of everything, except gold, recovered from the wrecks.
Parks Canada diver surveys the HMS Erebus. Parks Canada photo.
“During the permit application process for the spring 2015 ice dive on HMS Erebus, the government of Nunavut included a condition that denied Parks Canada the authorization to recover artifacts from the wreck site,” says a briefing note for Leona Aglukkaq, who was then the environment minister.
The federal cabinet has subsequently declared the HMS Erebus wreck and surrounding waters a national historic site, which took precedence over Nunavut’s permit regulations. However the wreck of the Terror, Franklin’s second lost ship is presumed to be outside the historical site designation therefore creating the same issues and subject to Nunavut’s initial claim of jurisdiction for the HMS Erebus artifacts.
Diver inspects the hull of the HMS Erebus preserved by the Arctic waters. Parks Canada photo.
This summer Parks Canada will return to the Erebus wreck site to document artifacts and then continue nearby areas to the north to search for the elusive HMS Terror as well. Hopefully all the ownership and jurisdiction tug – of – wars will ease enough to allow divers to expedite the process before the artifacts are scattered.
A portion of the Erebus steering wheel found at the site. Parks Canada photo.
A crewman’s boot in good condition was found at the site of the Erebus. Parks Canada photo.
