North Baffin hunters call for 10-year freeze on Baffinland mine expansion

Pond Inlet latest hamlet to express support for proposal to expand Mary River iron mine

By David Venn
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Three north Baffin hunters and trappers associations are calling for a ban on increased ore production at Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.’s Mary River mine.

The hunters and trappers associations for Hall Beach, Igloolik and Arctic Bay want the Nunavut Impact Review Board to stop the mine from increasing its ore production for 10 years. They also want the review board to recommend against allowing the mining company’s expansion proposal. NIRB is responsible for evaluating the social and economic impacts of developments projects, such as a mine expansion, and making a recommendation to the federal government about whether a proposal should be approved.

The Hall Beach and Igloolik HTAs also want the company to be barred from building and operating a port at Steensby Inlet. The company was granted a project certificate to do so in 2012.

The hunters and trappers associations spelled out these positions in closing statements sent to the review board on Monday.

As it stands, Baffinland is permitted to ship six million tonnes of iron ore a year from Milne Inlet. The company wants to double its shipments and to build a 110-km railroad between the mine and Milne Inlet and a dock at the port.

More than two years after the board’s public hearings on the proposed mine expansion began, hunter representatives continue to raise a range of concerns about the environmental impact of the mine’s operations.

Arctic Bay’s Ikajutit HTA chairperson Qaumajuq Oyukuluk said the impacts of the expansion could be “devastating.”

“We must be cautious and fully understand the impacts of the existing operation and steps needed to mitigate negative impacts before rushing forward and expanding this development,” Oyukuluk wrote in the association’s statement.

Clyde River Mayor Alan Cormack and Nangmautaq HTA chairperson Apiusie Apak, in a joint closing statement, did not specifically call for a moratorium.

But they said affected communities need time to determine if decreases to narwhal stock and other environmental problems are due to mining, before any increase in shipping is allowed.

Under the Nunavut Planning and Project Assessment Act, the review board has the ability to recommend a condition, such as a moratorium, to the federal northern affairs minister, who can then approve the new condition even if a project is already approved.

Karen Costello, executive director of the review board, said the last time she can recall the board receiving submissions for a moratorium was for Areva’s Kiggavik uranium mining project, which didn’t get approved.

Costello, who would not comment directly on Baffinland’s ongoing proposal, said the board has never issued a project certificate containing a moratorium.

The Qikiqtani Inuit Association does not support the expansion, either, and referred to the ongoing impacts brought up by HTAs.

The mine is slowly building its way up to a 30-million-tonne project and Inuit are still figuring out what the six-million-tonne project is doing to the environment, read the association’s closing statement.

“Inuit are only beginning to experience the scope of impacts of the initial project,” the statement reads, adding that there are increasing concerns that the plans Baffinland has in place to mitigate impacts are not working.

Some organizations and hamlets involved are starting to support the expansion, however.

Pond Inlet Mayor Joshua Arreak, in the hamlet’s final statement, listed a number of benefits the mine has brought or will bring to the community, including more than $16 million paid in wages to residents since 2015 and the commitment to a $10-million Inuit training centre if the expansion is approved.

The deadline for Baffinland’s final submission is Jan. 24. The board will then decide if it has enough information to make its recommendation and close the hearing.

It’s up to Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal to approve or reject the project after he receives the board’s recommendation.

Brand new bulk carrier brings North Canadian ore to China via Arctic route

Ice-class carrier Nordic Nuluujaak makes its first voyage on the Northern Sea Route as sea-ice quickly accumulates on the far northern waters.


Bulk carrier Nordic Nuluujaak on the Northern Sea Route

By Atle Staalesen
October 25, 2021

The 229 meter long ship that was delivered by the Guangzhou International (GSI) Shipyard in May this year on the 10th of October set out from the Milne Inlet in northern Canada. On board is ore from the Baffinland Iron Mines.

The vessel sailed south through the Baffin Bay and then turned north in the Labrador Sea. By October 25th, the vessel had made it through the Barents Sea and into Russia’s Kara Sea. It is estimated to reach its destination in China on November 10.

The Nordic Nuluujaak has ice-class 1A and is the first in a fleet of four vessels to be delivered by the Chinese shipyard. It is owned and managed by Nordic Bulk Carriers, a Danish company that is part of the U.S Pangaea Logistics Solutions.

Arctic sea-ice in the period 17-19th October 2021. Map by aari.ru

It is the Arctic maiden voyage for a vessel that is designed for shipping in extreme far northern conditions.

The Nordic Nuluujaak is made for challenging Arctic conditions, says Pangaea CEO Ed Coll. It is built in close cooperation with the Baffinland Iron Mines, he told ship-technology.com.

The ice-class notwithstanding, the Nordic Nuluujaak will rarely be able to ship independently through rough and icy Arctic waters. The 1A classification allows for sailing only through one-year Arctic ice up to about 30 centimetre thick.

The Nordic Nuluujaak enters the Northern Sea Route as the Arctic waters are about to freeze and ice-maps show that parts of the Vilkitsky Strait, as well as the East Siberian Sea now has more than 30 cm thick sea-ice.

As the ship on Monday this week set course for the Vilkitsky Strait, it was accompanied by nuclear icebreaker Vaiygach.

There are now only few ships left in the eastern part of the Northern Sea Route. Ship traffic maps show that there are less than 20 vessels in the waters between the Vilkitsky Strait and Bering Strait. Among them are three vessels from the United Heavy Lift. Two of them, the Uhl Flash and Uhl Faith are sailing westwards through the East Siberian Sea. None of them have high ice-class.

It is not the first time that iron ore is shipped from Canada’s far northern Milne Inlet to China through the Northern Sea Route. In November 2018, did two ships, the Nordic Olympic and Nordic Oshima sail the same route. Also in 2019 did a ship carry ore on the route.

 

Barents Sea

Marginal Sea

All images

The Barents Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters. Known among Russians in the Middle Ages as the Murman Sea, the current name of the sea is after the historical Dutch navigator Willem Barentsz.

Wikipedia

Arctic shippers eye release from Russian ice captivity

The 15 ships that for the last two weeks have been ice-locked in Russian Arctic waters see release coming as a second icebreaker makes its way into the East Siberian Sea.

Finnish bulk carrier Kumpola escorted through the East Siberian Sea. Photo: ESL Shipping

By Atle Staalesen
November 16, 2021

Diesel-powered icebreaker Novorossisk early this week made its way into the Chukchi Sea with course for the ships that are battling to make it out of the sea-ice in the East Siberian Sea.

The vessels, among them an oil tanker and several fully loaded bulk carriers, have been captured in thick sea-ice in the far eastern Arctic waters since early November as an early freeze took captains and shipping companies by surprise.

Over the last weeks, only one icebreaker, the nuclear-powered Vaigach, has been available for escorts through the increasingly icy waters. That has been insufficient to aid the many vessels that have been on their way across the Northern Sea Route.

Over the past years, ice conditions in late October and early November have allowed extensive shipping along the vast Russian Arctic coast. This year, however, large parts of the remote Arctic waters were already in late October covered by sea-ice. There is now an ice layer more than 30 cm thick cross most of the Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea. And in the strait separating the mainland with the Island of Wrangel is an area with more than a meter thick multi-year old ice.

The UHL Fusion are among the ships now escorted eastwards by icebreaker Vaigach

Icebreaker Vaigach has over the past days escorted four westbound vessels to the New Siberian Islands and subsequently assisted an eastbound group of vessels towards the island of Wrangel. As the Novorossisk makes it into the area, the Vaigach is expected to return westwards to escort the first group of ships from the New Siberian Islands and towards ice-free waters in the Kara Sea.

Among the ships on the route is the Finnish bulk carrier Kumpola that a is on its way back to Europe from Korea. In the area are also two carriers with iron ore from the Baffinland Iron Mines in northern Canada, as well as two carriers with iron from from Murmansk.

Among the ships is also oil tanker Vladimir Rusanov, as well as general cargo ship UHL Fusion.

In addition comes six vessels ice-locked in the waters near Pevek on the north Chukotka coast.

According to authorities in the Chukotka region, also nuclear powered icebreaker Yamal was to be sent to assist the vessels. However, as of the 16 of November, the icebreaker was stilled moored in Murmansk. The same was the case with sister ship 50 Let Pobedy.

 

Barents Sea

Marginal Sea

All images

The Barents Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters. Known among Russians in the Middle Ages as the Murman Sea, the current name of the sea is after the historical Dutch navigator Willem Barentsz.

Wikipedia

Hearing on Baffinland mine expansion ends, board to make recommendation

IQALUIT, Nunavut — The hunters and trappers association in the community closest to an iron ore mine on the northern tip of Baffin Island doesn't want to see the mine expand its operations, saying the effects have already been palpable.

 

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. is seeking to expand its Mary River iron ore mine near Pond Inlet by doubling its annual output from six to 12 million tonnes.

Speaking on the last day of a public hearing on the mine's proposed expansion, Enookie Inuarak of Pond Inlet's hunters and trappers association said the mine's effects on the surrounding environment "have already been significant."

"We have seen impacts on marine mammals already ... We are exhausted by constantly having to give evidence of impacts of Baffinland's operations on Inuit," he said.

Inuarak also said many members of his community are divided on whether they want the expansion to go ahead. One the one hand, the mine provides residents with jobs, while on the other hand it could have negative effects on hunting, he said.

"We don’t want to sacrifice our culture and traditions for the sake of money and benefits. We ask other communities not to sacrifice us."

The public hearing on the mine's proposed expansion finished on Saturday in Iqaluit, two years after it began. The Nunavut Impact Review Board, the territory's environmental assessment agency, heard from representatives from Nunavut communities, the Nunavut government, the Government of Canada and environmental groups.

The mining company wants to build a 110-kilometre railway to transport the ore from the mine to the ocean. It would be the most northern railway in Canada and the first in Nunavut.

The community of Pond Inlet, which is about 176 kilometers from the mine, has opposed the proposal and protested against it earlier this year by blocking the mine's road and airstrip.

The proposed expansion also includes a benefits agreement between Baffinland and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, which represents Inuit on Baffin Island. But Inuarak said he believes the benefits won't outweigh the cost of the expansion's effects on the animals harvested around Pond Inlet.

"When you talk about benefits, it sounds like you’re trying to buy us," Inuarak said. "Our culture and our traditions are not for sale."

Other North Baffin communities near the mine are concerned about what effects the proposed expansion would have on wildlife.

Alan Kormack from Clyde River told the board he does not support the expansion.

"Baffinland has not convinced us that this project will be safe," Kormack said. "Our wildlife and sea mammals are being depleted. They’re not around anymore."

Baffinland has said it can't continue to be profitable without increasing production.

The hearing resumed on Monday after it was suspended in April because of a COVID-19 outbreak in Iqaluit. It has stopped and started several times, having originally began in November 2019.

On Nov. 6, 2019, two years ago today, the hearing was abruptly adjourned when Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. put forward a motion to suspend the proceedings. At the time, the Nunavut Land Claims organization argued Inuit had not been properly consulted on the project.

All interveners have until Nov. 22 to submit written closing statements to the Nunavut Impact Review Board, which will then make a recommendation to federal northern affairs minister Dan Vandal whether to approve the proposed expansion. Vandal will then have the final say on whether the expansion will go forward.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2021.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Emma Tranter, The Canadian Press

Noting fewer narwhal, North Baffin hunters ask Baffinland not to break ice


Mon., July 5, 2021

Hunters from Pond Inlet are asking Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. not to do any icebreaking this year near the northern tip of Baffin Island, saying that mounting evidence shows that icebreaking is harmful to the health of narwhal.

The number of narwhal in Eclipse Sound — a body of water near the port that Baffinland uses for shipping iron ore — is affected by the company’s operations and was nearly cut in half between 2019 and 2020, dropping to 5,019 from 9,931, according to the findings of Golder Associates Ltd., Baffinland’s third-party experts on marine life.

Eric Ootoovak, chairperson of the Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization, said the decrease is due to the Mary River mine operations. Baffinland ships six million tonnes of iron ore a year from its operations there.

“Science is finally catching up with Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit [traditional knowledge] by recognizing the disturbance to narwhal,” Ootoovak stated in a June 25 news release.

“It’s time for Baffinland to take serious action to stop this disturbance, including cancelling its planned icebreaking.”

The hunters’ group also cited a study that found the stress level in narwhals is increasing and affecting their health, which many Inuit groups say is making the narwhals skinnier and less nourishing.

The Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization is opposed to Baffinland’s expansion proposal to double its annual ore shipments and build a railway and dock at Milne Inlet.

The proposal is currently before the Nunavut Impact Review Board, which had to suspend its hearing on the project when there was a COVID-19 outbreak in Iqaluit in mid-April.

Baffinland spokesperson Heather Smiles said the company agrees that there are fewer narwhal, but this could be due to factors other than the mine’s operations, such as an increase in killer whales and underwater pile driving in Pond Inlet.

“These factors may have acted independently or cumulatively,” she said. “All of these factors were either unique in 2020 or more prominent than in 2019.”

The company hasn’t decided whether it will send icebreakers this year, Smiles said. But she said a “precautionary approach” will be taken because of the low number of narwhal last year.

Baffinland has adopted “conservative” measures that are a product of feedback from Inuit groups, Smiles said.

She pointed to the company’s marine wildlife management plan, which includes two adaptive management measures that could be used: changing the ships’ schedule to avoid times when contact with narwhal is more likely to happen, and find alternative routes.

But Ootoovak said in a June 25 letter to Baffinland and the review board that the mitigation measures are unclear.

Baffinland can begin icebreaking around July 15, depending on ice conditions, and end around Oct. 15, Smiles said.

David Venn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News

Nunavut hunters end blockades, mine pushes ahead with injunction against them

IQALUIT, Nunavut — Baffinland Iron Mine Corp. has pushed ahead with an injunction against a group of Nunavut hunters who blocked the road and airstrip at its Mary River mine in protest of a plan to expand the project

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© Provided by The Canadian Press

A group of seven Inuit hunters, who call themselves the Nuluujat Land Guardians, protested at the mine for a week before departing on Feb. 10.

But Brad Armstrong, lawyer for Baffinland, argued the injunction is necessary "to be sure that these blockades do not reoccur."

"It is necessary to ensure that the company can continue its operations without interruption. It will tell the Guardians they cannot come back," Armstrong said.

Armstrong's comments came during a Saturday-morning hearing at the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit.

Guardians' lawyer Lori Idlout countered that the injunction was unnecessary, citing the hunters' decision to end the blockade of their own accord.

She said the protest ended after the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, the organization representing Inuit in the region, and land-claim body Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. offered the hunters a face-to-face meeting, which they accepted.

Idlout said the hunters have since returned to their home communities of Pond Inlet and Arctic Bay, some of which are more than 300 kilometres from the proposed mine expansion.

Baffinland is in the middle of environmental hearings on its bid to double the mine's output of iron ore from six million to 12 million tonnes and build a 110-kilometre railway from the mine to the ocean for shipping. The railway would be the only one in Nunavut and the most northern in Canada.

Some hunters and community members in the North Baffin region have said they fear the company is moving too fast and not properly considering the effects an expansion would have on wildlife, including narwhal and caribou populations.

Baffinland asked for a temporary injunction against the hunters last week, which was in place until Saturday's hearing.

Baffinland said the blockade had caused some 700 employees at the mine to be stranded and grounded all food and supply flights to the mine.

Idlout argued that extending the injunction is unnecessary because the hunters had immediately responded to the court's order and are in the middle of planning for their upcoming meeting.

"They are few in numbers and their resources are focused currently on meeting with Inuit organizations to advance their environmental goals and protecting Inuit rights," Idlout said.

The day and time of the meeting has not yet been set.

If granted, the injunction would legally prevent the hunters from blockading the site.

Nunavut Justice Susan Cooper did not deliver an immediate ruling on the application, saying she needs some time to come to a decision. In the meantime, the temporary injunction ordered last week will stay in place.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 13, 2021.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship

Emma Tranter, The Canadian Press

Nunavut hunters agree to end protest at iron ore mine after offer of a meeting

Lawyers for Inuit hunters blocking an airstrip and road at an iron ore mine in Nunavut say the group will end its protest.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The blockade started a week ago after seven hunters travelled two days and over 150 kilometres to get to Baffinland's Mary River mine site.

It ended after the regional Inuit organization and land-claim body offered the hunters a face-to-face meeting, which they accepted.

The hunters, who call themselves the Nuluujat Land Guardians, were protesting Baffinland's proposal to double its output and build a 110-kilometre railway to the ocean.

The hunters are to stay at a nearby cabin until at least Friday, then make the journey back to Pond Inlet where they will meet with local leaders.

On Wednesday, a Nunavut judge ordered the hunters to clear the airstrip so mine workers could fly home.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2021.

The Canadian Press

Food, supply flights grounded, operations halted as protest continues at Nunavut mine

IQALUIT, Nunavut — Flights have been grounded and most operations suspended at an open-pit iron ore mine on Nunavut's Baffin Island as protesters upset about its expansion plan continue to block the site's road and air strip.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Hunters from Arctic Bay and Pond Inlet set up the blockade last Thursday, after travelling two days by snowmobile to get to Baffinland's Mary River mine.

The mine, which is about 150 kilometres south of Pond Inlet, works on a rotating schedule, with employees flying in and out every few weeks. The company said there are 700 workers currently at the site.

"Food and supply flights have been suspended, as well as employee and contractor transfers, search and rescue flights, and other North Baffin air traffic support services provided by the Mary River airstrip," Baffinland said in a statement Monday.

The company said it has had numerous meetings with organizers at the blockade and in Pond Inlet. It also said it has asked the hunters to "relocate off the airstrip and allow runway maintenance to take place and flights to resume.

"So far these discussions have not yielded any progress," Baffinland said.

The hunters said they set up the blockade because their voices aren't being heard at environmental hearings on the mine's proposed expansion.

The expansion, if approved, would double its iron ore output to 12 million tonnes and build a 110-kilometre railway from the mine to the ocean to transport it. The railway would be the first in Nunavut and the most northern one in Canada.

Some hunters and community members in the North Baffin region have also said they worry the mining company is moving too fast and not properly considering the effects an expansion would have on wildlife, including narwhal and caribou.

The protest group stationed at the air strip and mining road has grown to include 15 hunters. Rallies in support of the hunters also took place across Nunavut on Monday.

In Iqaluit, where the temperature hovered around an unusually warm 3 C, a group of about a dozen people gathered outside the elders' centre.

Abraham Kublu, who grew up in Pond Inlet and sat on its hamlet council for 17 hears, held a sign in Inuktitut that said Baffinland is rushing its expansion.

"We should be respecting our land. For so many years, the community of Pond Inlet has been raising a lot of concerns," Kublu said.

Kublu said he believes Baffinland doesn't have enough information about how the mine's expansion would affect wildlife on the north side of Baffin Island.

In Taloyoak, in western Nunavut, protesters gathered carrying cardoard signs, with some reading, "We support Pond Inlet and Arctic Bay" and "No to Baffinland."

In Pond Inlet on Friday and Saturday, when the temperature was about -38 C, protesters gathered outside the community hall while hearings on the mine's proposed expansion took place.

Among the concerns are that caribou will not be able to cross the proposed railway and increased ship traffic will drive away marine mammals.

The mine’s shipping port in Milne Inlet opens onto narwhal habitat and lies within Tallurutiup Imanga, a national marine conservation area. The proposed expansion would see 176 ships travel in and out of Milne Inlet each year.

“If they start doing 12 million tonnes a year, our marine mammals will be completely extinguished in our area," Inuarak said.

Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, Nunavut's member of Parliament, said in a statement her office has reached out to federal Minister of Natural Resources Seamus O'Regan "to attempt to mediate the situation at Mary River."

"The ongoing protests are about encouraging continued consultations and dialogue. I look forward to Baffinland, the minister and community members being able to sit back at the table and discuss how to move forward in everyone's best interests," Qaqqaq said.

Baffinland has said its expansion plans will include mitigation measures to protect wildlife, such as caribou crossings on the railway and reduced ship speeds to minimize disturbances to marine life.

The company has also signed a benefit agreement worth $1 billion over the life of the mine with the Qikitani Inuit Association, the regional Inuit organization that represents the affected communities. The agreement will only take effect if the expansion is approved.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 8, 2021.

Emma Tranter, The Canadian Press

CAPITALIST CONSULTATION; DO IT OUR WAY

Baffinland says it won’t budge on proposed railway route

Baffinland says there’s no turning back on the route for the 110-km railroad it wants to build to expand its Mary River iron mine, which it says became finalized when the company struck the Inuit Certainty Agreement with the Qikiqtani Inuit Association.

But the QIA sees things differently. In an email to Nunatsiaq News, the association said that under that agreement, struck in July 2020, Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. “committed to determining whether there is community support” for the route during the hearings of the Nunavut Impact Review Board.

“To QIA’s knowledge the issue of community support remains unresolved,” said QIA’s statement.

The hamlet of Pond Inlet and the Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization remain opposed to the route, which would run from the Mary River mine, northeast to its port at Milne Inlet. They have expressed concerns that the railroad will scare away caribou.

The Nunavut Impact Review Board’s final hearing on Baffinland’s expansion plans began its second week Monday. Last week, presentations by the company asserted that the railway route was made final by the multi-million-dollar agreement struck with QIA.

Megan Lord-Hoyle, Baffinland’s vice-president of sustainable development, told the hearing Thursday the mine remained committed to the route, despite ongoing concerns raised by community organizations.

Baffinland says the current route, which it calls called Route 3, takes into account earlier concerns raised about the company’s first route proposal that would have closely followed the existing tote road. A second route, proposed by local Inuit, was deemed unsafe by Baffinland. The company maintains that Route 3hree would have the smallest impact on caribou — as well as the lowest fuel consumption for its trains — of the three routes.

Baffinland’s critics, meanwhile, say the company still lacks data on the proposed route.

On, Jan. 28, in a response to a question from Igloolik Mayor Merlyn Recinos, Lord-Hoyle said Baffinland has not completed a geotechnical study of the route, to test the ground’s stability.

Baffinland later clarified in an email to Nunatsiaq News that geotechnical work began in 2020 and will continue in 2021 to “define the exact engineering requirements” but not to change the route.

“It is important to note that regardless of them being completed or not, it does not change our commitment that this is the route that we would construct should phase two be approved,” Lord-Hoyle said during Thursday’s session.

Andrew Dumbrille, World Wildlife Fund Canada’s lead specialist on marine shipping and conservation, said in an interview with Nunatsiaq News that without this study being complete, the route could see unexpected changes made after it’s already accepted.

The study shows whether “a certain geological area can sustain the full weight and construction of a railroad. And they haven’t done that,” he said. “With a project of this magnitude, we shouldn’t be giving Baffinland a blank cheque.”

Baffinland says other studies support its preferred railroad route, with focuses on caribou safety, sustainability and traditional knowledge.

And the current railway route, it said, is a direct result of working with Inuit.

David Venn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News

Arctic Ocean: climate change is flooding the remote north with light – and new species

Carlos Duarte, Adjunct Professor of Marine Ecology, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Dorte Krause-Jensen, Professor, Marine Ecology, Aarhus University, Karen Filbee-Dexter, Research Fellow in Marine

At just over 14 million square kilometres, the Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world’s oceans. It is also the coldest. An expansive raft of sea ice floats near its centre, expanding in the long, cold, dark winter, and contracting in the summer, as the Sun climbs higher in the sky

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© (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) 

A boat navigates at night next to large icebergs in eastern Greenland.

Every year, usually in September, the sea ice cover shrinks to its lowest level. The tally in 2020 was a meagre 3.74 million square kilometres, the second-smallest measurement in 42 years, and roughly half of what it was in 1980. Each year, as the climate warms, the Arctic is holding onto less and less ice.

The effects of global warming are being felt around the world, but nowhere on Earth are they as dramatic as they are in the Arctic. The Arctic is warming two to three times faster than any other place on Earth, ushering in far-reaching changes to the Arctic Ocean, its ecosystems and the 4 million people who live in the Arctic.

This story is part of Oceans 21

Five profiles open our series on the global ocean, delving into ancient Indian Ocean trade networks, Pacific plastic pollution, Arctic light and life, Atlantic fisheries and the Southern Ocean’s impact on global climate. All brought to you from The Conversation’s international network.

Some of them are unexpected. The warmer water is pulling some species further north, into higher latitudes. The thinner ice is carrying more people through the Arctic on cruise ships, cargo ships and research vessels. Ice and snow can almost entirely black out the water beneath it, but climate change is allowing more light to flood in.
Artificial light in the polar night

Light is very important in the Arctic. The algae which form the foundation of the Arctic Ocean’s food web convert sunlight into sugar and fat, feeding fish and, ultimately, whales, polar bears and humans.

At high latitudes in the Arctic during the depths of winter, the Sun stays below the horizon for 24 hours. This is called the polar night, and at the North Pole, the year is simply one day lasting six months, followed by one equally long night.

Researchers studying the effects of ice loss deployed moored observatories – anchored instruments with a buoy — in an Arctic fjord in the autumn of 2006, before the fjord froze. When sampling started in the spring of 2007, the moorings had been in place for almost six months, collecting data throughout the long and bitter polar night.

What they detected changed everything.

© Michael O. Snyder

 The polar night can last for weeks and even months in the high Arctic.
Life in the dark

At that time, scientists assumed the polar night was utterly uninteresting. A dead period in which life lies dormant and the ecosystem sinks into a dark and frigid standby mode. Not much was expected to come of these measurements, so researchers were surprised when the data showed that life doesn’t pause at all.

Arctic zooplankton — tiny microscopic animals that eat algae — take part in something called diel vertical migration beneath the ice and in the dead of the polar night. Sea creatures in all the oceans of the world do this, migrating to depth during the day to hide from potential predators in the dark, and surfacing at night to feed.

Organisms use light as a cue to do this, so they shouldn’t logically be able to during the polar night. We now understand the polar night to be a riot of ecological activity. The normal rhythms of daily life continue in the gloom. Clams open and close cyclically, seabirds hunt in almost total darkness, ghost shrimps and sea snails gather in kelp forests to reproduce, and deep-water species such as the helmet jellyfish surface when it’s dark enough to stay safe from predators.

For most of the organisms active during this period, the Moon, stars and aurora borealis likely give important cues that guide their behaviour, especially in parts of the Arctic not covered by sea ice. But as the Arctic climate warms and human activities in the region ramp up, these natural light sources will in many places be invisible, crowded out by much stronger artificial light.

© Muratart/Shutterstock 

The northern lights dance in the sky over Tromsø, Norway.

Artificial light

Almost a quarter of all land masses are exposed to scattered artificial light at night, as it’s reflected back to the ground from the atmosphere. Few truly dark places remain, and light from cities, coastlines, roads and ships is visible as far as outer space.

Even in sparsely populated areas of the Arctic, light pollution is noticeable. Shipping routes, oil and gas exploration and fisheries extend into the region as the sea ice retreats, drawing artificial light into the otherwise inky black polar night.

© Michael O. Snyder

Creatures which have adapted to the polar night over millions of years are now suddenly exposed to artificial light.

No organisms have had the opportunity to properly adapt to these changes – evolution works on a much longer timescale. Meanwhile, the harmonic movements of the Earth, Moon and Sun have provided reliable cues to Arctic animals for millennia. Many biological events, such as migration, foraging and breeding are highly attuned to their gentle predictability.

In a recent study carried out in the high Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, between mainland Norway and the north pole, the onboard lights of a research vessel were found to affect fish and zooplankton at least 200 metres down. Disturbed by the sudden intrusion of light, the creatures swirling beneath the surface reacted dramatically, with some swimming towards the beam, and others swimming violently away.

It’s difficult to predict the effect artificial light from ships newly navigating the ice-free Arctic will have on polar night ecosystems that have known darkness for longer than modern humans have existed. How the rapidly growing human presence in the Arctic will affect the ecosystem is concerning, but there are also unpleasant questions for researchers. If much of the information we’ve gathered about the Arctic came from scientists stationed on brightly lit boats, how “natural” is the state of the ecosystem we have reported?

© Michael O. Snyder 

Research in the Arctic could change considerably over the coming years to reduce light pollution.

Arctic marine science is about to enter a new era with autonomous and remotely operated platforms, capable of operating without any light, making measurements in complete darkness.

Underwater forests

As sea ice retreats from the shores of Greenland, Norway, North America and Russia, periods with open water are getting longer, and more light is reaching the sea floor. Suddenly, coastal ecosystems that have been hidden under ice for 200,000 years are seeing the light of day. This could be very good news for marine plants like kelp – large brown seaweeds that thrive in cold water with enough light and nutrients.

Anchored to the sea floor and floating with the tide and currents, some species of kelp can grow up to 50 metres (175 feet) – about the same height as Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square, London. But kelp are typically excluded from the highest latitudes because of the shade cast by sea ice and its scouring effect on the seabed.

© Ignacio Garrido/

Arctic Kelp Badderlocks, or winged kelp, off the coast of Nunavut in the Canadian Arctic.

These lush underwater forests are set to grow and thrive as sea ice shrinks. Kelp are not a new arrival to the Arctic though. They were once part of the traditional Greenlandic diet, and polar researchers and explorers observed them along northern coasts more than a century ago.

Some species of kelp may have colonised Arctic coasts after the last ice age, or spread out from small pockets where they’d held on. But most kelp forests in the Arctic are smaller and more restricted to patches in deeper waters, compared to the vast swathes of seaweed that line coasts like California’s in the US.\

© Ignacio Garrido/

Arctic Kelp The polar night can last for weeks and even months in the high Arctic.

Recent evidence from Norway and Greenland shows kelp forests are already expanding and increasing their ranges poleward, and these ocean plants are expected to get bigger and grow faster as the Arctic warms, creating more nooks for species to live in and around. The full extent of Arctic kelp forests remains largely unseen and uncharted, but modelling can help determine how much they have shifted and grown in the Arctic since the 1950s.

© Filbee-Dexter et al. (2018) Known locations of kelp forests and global trends in predicted average summer surface temperature increase over next two decades, according to IPCC models.

A new carbon sink

Although large seaweeds come in all shapes and sizes, many are remarkably similar to trees, with long, trunk-like but flexible bodies called stipes. The kelp forest canopy is filled with the flat blades like leaves, while holdfasts act like roots by anchoring the seaweed to rocks below.

Some types of Arctic kelp can grow over ten metres and form large and complex canopies suspended in the water column, with a shaded and protected understorey. Much like forests on land, these marine forests provide habitats, nursery areas and feeding grounds for many animals and fish, including cod, pollack, crabs, lobsters and sea urchins.

© Ignacio Garrido/ArcticKelp 

Kelp forests offer lots of nooks and crannies and surfaces to settle on, making them rich in wildlife.

Kelp are fast growers, storing carbon in their leathery tissue as they do. So what does their expansion in the Arctic mean for the global climate? Like restoring forests on land, growing underwater kelp forests can help to slow climate change by diverting carbon from the atmosphere.

Better yet, some kelp material breaks off and is swept out of shallow coastal waters and into the deep ocean where it’s effectively removed from the Earth’s carbon cycle. Expanding kelp forests along the Earth’s extensive Arctic coasts could become a growing carbon sink that captures the CO₂ humans emit and locks it away in the deep sea.

What’s happening with kelp in the Arctic is fairly unique – these ocean forests are embattled in most other parts of the world. Overall, the global extent of kelp forests is on a downward trend because of ocean heatwaves, pollution, warming temperatures, and outbreaks of grazers like sea urchins.

Unsurprisingly, it’s not all good news. Encroaching kelp forests could push out unique wildlife in the high Arctic. Algae living under the ice will have nowhere to go, and could disappear altogether. More temperate kelp species may replace endemic Arctic kelps such as Laminaria solidungula. 

© Ignacio Garrido/ArcticKelp 

A crab finds refuge on Laminaria solidungula

But kelp are just one set of species among many pushing further and deeper into the region as the ice melts.

Arctic invasions

Milne Inlet, on north Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada, sees more marine traffic than any other port in Arctic Canada. Most days during the open-water period, 300-metre-long ships leave the port laden with iron ore from the nearby Mary River Mine. Between 71 and 82 ships pass through the area annually, most heading to — or coming from ports in northern Europe.

Cruise ships, coast guard vessels, pleasure yachts, research icebreakers, cargo supply ships and rigid inflatable boats full of tourists also glide through the area. Unprecedented warming and declining sea ice has attracted new industries and other activities to the Arctic. Communities like Pond Inlet have seen marine traffic triple in the past two decades.

© Kimberly Howland 

Passengers from a cruise ship arrive in Pond Inlet, Nunavut.

These ships come to the Arctic from all over the world, carrying a host of aquatic hitchhikers picked up in Rotterdam, Hamburg, Dunkirk and elsewhere. These species — some too small to see with the naked eye — are hidden in the ballast water pumped into on-board tanks to stabilise the ship. They also stick to the hull and other outer surfaces, called “biofouling.”

Some survive the voyage to the Arctic and are released into the environment when the ballast water is discharged and cargo loaded. Those that maintain their hold on the outer surface may release eggs, sperm or larvae.

Many of these organisms are innocuous, but some may be invasive newcomers that can cause harm. Research in Canada and Norway has already shown non-native invasive species like bay and acorn barnacles can survive ship transits to the Arctic. This raises a risk for Arctic ecosystems given that invasive species are one of the top causes for extinctions worldwide.

Expanded routes

Concern about invasive species extends far beyond the community of Pond Inlet. Around 4 million people live in the Arctic, many of them along the coasts that provide nutrients and critical habitat for a wide array of animals, from Arctic char and ringed seals to polar bear, bowhead whales and millions of migratory birds.

As waters warm, the shipping season is becoming longer, and new routes, like the Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea Route (along Russia’s Arctic coast), are opening up. Some researchers expect a trans-Arctic route across the North Pole might be navigable by mid-century. The increased ship traffic magnifies the numbers and kinds of organisms transported into Arctic waters, and the progressively more hospitable conditions improve their odds of survival.

Prevention is the number one way to keep invasive species out of the Arctic. Most ships must treat their ballast water, using chemicals or other processes, and/or exchange it to limit the movement of harmful organisms to new locations. Guidelines also recommend ships use special coatings on the hulls and clean them regularly to prevent biofouling. But these prevention measures are not always reliable, and their efficacy in colder environments is poorly understood.

The next best approach is to detect invaders as soon as possible once they arrive, to improve chances for eradication or suppression. But early detection requires widespread monitoring, which can be challenging in the Arctic. Keeping an eye out for the arrival of a new species can be akin to searching for a needle in a haystack, but northern communities may offer a solution.

Researchers in Norway, Alaska and Canada have found a way to make that search easier by singling out species that have caused harm elsewhere and that could endure Arctic environmental conditions. Nearly two dozen potential invaders show a high chance for taking hold in Arctic Canada

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© Shutterstock The red king crab was intentionally introduced to the Barents Sea in the 1960s, but is now spreading south along the Norwegian coast.

Among these is the cold-adapted red king crab, native to the Sea of Japan, Bering Sea and North Pacific. It was intentionally introduced to the Barents Sea in the 1960s to establish a fishery and is now spreading south along the Norwegian coast and in the White Sea. It is a large, voracious predator implicated in substantial declines of harvested shellfish, sea urchins and other larger, slow moving bottom species, with a high likelihood of surviving transport in ballast water.

Another is the common periwinkle, which ruthlessly grazes on lush aquatic plants in shoreline habitats, leaving behind bare or encrusted rock. It has also introduced a parasite on the east coast of North America that causes black spot disease in fishes, which stresses adult fishes and makes them unpalatable, kills juveniles and causes intestinal damage to birds and mammals that eat them.

Tracking genetic remnants

New species like these could affect the fish and mammals people hunt and eat, if they were to arrive in Pond Inlet. After just a few years of shipping, a handful of possibly non-native species have already been discovered, including the invasive red-gilled mudworm (Marenzellaria viridis), and a potentially invasive tube dwelling amphipod. Both are known to reach high densities, alter the characteristics of the seafloor sediment and compete with native species

© Kimberly Howland A cargo ship passes through Milne Inlet, Nunavut.

Baffinland, the company that runs the Mary River Mine, is seeking to double its annual output of iron ore. If the expansion proceeds, up to 176 ore carriers will pass through Milne Inlet during the open-water season.

Although the future of Arctic shipping remains uncertain, it’s an upward trend that needs to be watched. In Canada, researchers are working with Indigenous partners in communities with high shipping activity — including Churchill, Manitoba; Pond Inlet and Iqaluit in Nunavut; Salluit, Quebec and Nain, Newfoundland — to establish an invasive species monitoring network. One of the approaches includes collecting water and testing it for genetic remnants shed from scales, faeces, sperm and other biological material.

© Christopher Mckindsey

 Members of the 2019 field team from Pond Inlet and Salluit filter eDNA from water samples collected from Milne Inlet.

This environmental DNA (eDNA) is easy to collect and can help detect organisms that might otherwise be difficult to capture or are in low abundance. The technique has also improved baseline knowledge of coastal biodiversity in other areas of high shipping, a fundamental step in detecting future change.

Some non-native species have already been detected in the Port of Churchill using eDNA surveillance and other sampling methods, including jellyfish, rainbow smelt and an invasive copepod species.

Efforts are underway to expand the network across the Arctic as part of the Arctic Council’s Arctic Invasive Alien Species Strategy to reduce the spread of invasive species.

The Arctic is often called the frontline of the climate crisis, and because of its rapid rate of warming, the region is beset by invasions of all kinds, from new species to new shipping routes. These forces could entirely remake the ocean basin within the lifetimes of people alive today, from frozen, star-lit vistas, populated by unique communities of highly adapted organisms, to something quite different.

The Arctic is changing faster than scientists can document, yet there will be opportunities, such as growing carbon sinks, that could benefit the wildlife and people who live there. Not all changes to our warming world will be wholly negative. In the Arctic, as elsewhere, there are winners and losers.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Jørgen Berge receives funding from the Norwegian Research Council (300333).

Carlos Duarte receives funding from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and the Independent Research Fund of Denmark.

Dorte Krause-Jensen receives funding from various governmental research funds, such as the Independent Research Fund, Denmark, and private research funds, including the Velux Foundations.

Karen Filbee-Dexter receives funding from ArcticNet, the Norwegian Blue Forest Network, the Australian Research Council, and the Norwegian Research Council (BlueConnect).

Kimberly Howland receives funding from Fisheries and Ocean Canada; Natural Resources Canada and Polar Knowledge Canada.

Philippe Archambault receives funding from ArcticNet.