Canada is sending two icebreakers on a scientific mission to the High Arctic to gather data to bolster its plan to lay claim to the sea floor under and beyond the North Pole.

The coast guard vessel Terry Fox set sail from St. John's, the regional capital of Canada's eastern-most province Newfoundland and Labrador on Friday. The vessel CCGS Louis S. St. Laurent was to leave on Saturday.

"If ice conditions permit, this survey will include areas in the vicinity of the North Pole," a government statement said.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, said: "Our government is committing the resources necessary to ensure that Canada secures international recognition of the full extent of its continental shelf, including the North Pole."

Competing bids

The trip comes after Canada filed a United Nations application in December seeking to vastly expand its Atlantic sea boundary and signaled intentions to claim the North Pole.

The submission by Canada to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf was essentially a series of undersea co-ordinates mapping what the government claims is the country's extended continental shelf.

If the claim is accepted by the UN body, Canada's share of the region would grow dramatically.

"Our government is securing our sovereignty while expanding our economic and scientific opportunities by defining Canada's last frontier, " Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq said in the statement on the icebreakers' mission.

Competing territorial claims

The Commission is also considering a range of competing claims by other countries, including Russia, Norway and Denmark. Russia has stepped up its military presence in the Arctic to support its own bid.

According to the US Geological Survey, the area could hold 13 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and up to 30 percent of its hidden natural gas resources.

tj/ipj (AFP, AP)