OTTAWA – Canada’s environment commissioner says Canada lacks an overall vision for dealing with an expected growth in marine traffic in the Arctic, with outdated maps and surveys, inadequate navigational aids and icebreaking services that are stretched to the limit.

In her fall 2014 report, Julie Gelfand says many of the Arctic’s high-risk areas, including main traffic corridors, are inadequately surveyed and charted, including some maps that are more than 40 years old.

The report says that despite increasing demand for more modern data based on more efficient multi-beam sonar, the Canadian Hydrographic Service lacks the resources to adequately conduct such surveys.

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The report also says the Canadian Coast Guard has not responded adequately to growing demands for improved fixed navigation aids in the Arctic, such as lights, beacons and buoys.

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And it says the coast guard’s capacity to provide icebreaking services is stretched to capacity and likely to decline due to planned vessel refits – all at a time of unprecedented demand and shipping seasons that grow longer each year.

The federal government has responded to and agreed with Gelfand’s conclusions, promising to prioritize hydrographic surveying efforts, review navigational aid systems and consider “modern and efficient solutions” for coast guard service delivery.

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