Shipping Concerns in the Arctic

ARCTIC GOVERNANCE
One of the prominent issues in Arctic shipping is the question of if there is a need to develop mandatory regulations for ships operating in Arctic ice-covered waters. Currently, voluntary guidelines exist that touch upon the subject from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS). The Arctic Council developed an Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment (AMSA) that comes to the conclusion that such regulations drawn up in accordance with international customary law as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) would be an effective way to enhance marine
safety and environmental protection in Arctic waters.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Protecting Arctic People and the Environment are one of the key issues identified in the AMSA report which includes: gathering information on Indigenous marine use to assess the impacts from Arctic shipping activities; engaging Arctic communities with the shipping industry by ensuring that mechanisms are in place enabling
these communities to communicate and coordinate with the shipping industry; identifying and protecting cultural and ecological areas of heightened importance; strategies to protect from invasive species; and monitoring and assessing impacts on marine mammals and reducing air emissions.

INFRASTRUCTURE
Support infrastructure in the Arctic region is lacking to ensure safety and environmental protection. Ice navigation training, navigational charts, communications systems, port services which are equipped to deal with ship-generated waste, and timely ice information and access to icebreakers are needed. Arctic Marine Traffic Systems need to be improved with increased monitoring and tracking marine activity. Both environmental response and search and rescue need to be significantly strengthened.

CURRENT ACTIVITIES
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is developing a new Polar Code to regulate polar shipping to ensure that it is safe and that the environment, wildlife and communities are protected from accidents. The need to develop the new code was recognized after guidelines for shipping in Arctic ice-covered waters were recently reviewed and extended so they could also apply to ships in the Antarctic. Extended guidelines for ships operating in polar waters were adopted by an IMO resolution in December 2009 and will apply until a mandatory Polar Code is developed and adopted.