MAGAZINE the Dirtiest Fuel 6 No. 3 Arctic cruises 13 2016 the circle Arctic spills 20 Arctic shipping: UncertAin WAters PUBLISHED BY THE WWF ARCTIC PROGRAMME TheCircle0316.indd 1 29.09.2016 20.05 THE CIRCLE 3.2016 ARCTIC SHIPPING Contents EDITORIAL The paradox of Arctic shipping 3 IN BRIEF 4 Dr. SIAN PRIOR The dirtiest fuel 6 ALEXEY KNIZHNIKOV and LUDMILA AMetistoVA Liquefied natural gas 8 Dr. BJØRN GUNNARSSON Development of the Northern Sea Route 10 MICHAEL BYERS Arctic Cruises: try staying home 13 VICKI Aitaok The view from shore 14 AUSTIN AHMASUK Shipping and Indigenous communities 15 SUSAN WILSON and SIMON GOODMAN Icebreakers and ice-breeding seals 16 NANCY KINNER Arctic Spills 20 MICHAEL KINgstoN The Polar Code 22 THE PICTURE 24 The Circle is published quarterly Publisher: Editor in Chief: Clive Tesar, COVER: Cruiseship Eurodam, Nan- by the WWF Arctic Programme. WWF Arctic Programme [email protected] ortalik, Greenland Reproduction and quotation with 8th floor, 275 Slater St., Ottawa, Photo: Edward Weston Follow, CC, Flickr.com appropriate credit are encour- ON, Canada K1P 5H9. Managing Editor: Becky Rynor, aged. Articles by non-affiliated Tel: +1 613-232-8706 [email protected] ABOVE: 60-foot plus wave hitting sources do not necessarily reflect Fax: +1 613-232-4181 tanker headed south from Val- the views or policies of WWF. Design and production: dez, Alaska. Send change of address and sub- Internet: www.panda.org/arctic Film & Form/Ketill Berger, Photo: NOAA Photo Library, Captain Roger Wilson. scription queries to the address [email protected] on the right. We reserve the right ISSN 2073-980X = The Circle to edit letters for publication, Printed by St. Joseph Communications and assume no responsibility for Date of publication: unsolicited material. September 2016. Thank you for your interest in The Circle. Many of our subscribers have moved to an e-version. To receive an electronic copy in your email instead of a paper 2 The Circle 3.2016 copy, please write to us at [email protected] and help us reduce our costs and footprint. EDITORIAL The paradox of Arctic shipping GLOBALLY, NINETY PERCENT of everything that we use has could be a clearing house for the latest information and been transported by ship. Shipping is the backbone of operational guidelines that cause the least impact. most major economic activity, from the extraction of natu- There are opportunities for mitigation on many issues ral resources to manufacturing of goods. Quality of life and then there are impacts and risks we just can’t live with. and standard of living depend on global trade, and ship- Dr. Sian Prior makes a case for just that type of approach ping is the vehicle for this trade, whether it is transporting when it comes to heavy fuel oil (HFO) use in the Arctic. ore across an ocean or bringing canned food to remote It is a particularly toxic and polluting fuel, and is being Arctic communities. Shipping can also cause serious envi- burned in the Arctic, unrestricted. Its elimination and ronmental impacts and risks, especially in the Arctic. An phase out is needed now just as has been done in Antarc- increase in global population and commodity prices, and tica and parts of Norway. For this fuel, in this region and a decrease in sea ice are factors in what many experts say for these impacts there is only one solution; elimination. will boost ship transits in the Arctic. As the number of Northern communities are on the front lines of cli- voyages rises so do the risks to marine habitats and spe- mate change, accidents, spill response, cies, which many northern and Indigenous peoples rely increased development and many asso- on for food and culture. In Canada for ciated impacts example, it’s estimated that 50% of the from shipping. daily diet of northerners comes from SHIPPING: IT'S AN ESSEN- Austin Ahmasuk the ocean. describes impacts Underwater noise, oil spills, intro- TIAL SERVICE WHICH HAS that shipping has duction of invasive species, air emis- ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT had on his com- sions including black carbon and munity. It’s a voice ANDREW DUMBRILLE GHGs, and disturbance of ice habitat, that doesn’t get is Senior Specialist, are all part of the complex risk profile which shipping heard often enough. Sustainable Shipping brings to the Arctic. Vicki Aitaok paints a very positive com- WWF-Canada. Climate Change and its effects on sea ice are well docu- munity experience from the recent visit mented, we’re losing it fast and its decline is opening up by the Crystal Serenity, the largest cruise ship to transit the Arctic at unprecedented rates. This however doesn’t the Northwest Passage. The economic benefits are clear mean ships won’t encounter ice, and as development pres- and the cultural exchange seems profound for passengers. sures increase, winter shipping is being contemplated Michael Byers would disagree. He argues tourism is pos- where it was unthinkable in the past. Sue Wilson and sible because of climate change and more tourism means Simon Goodman in their article describe the interaction more climate change. That’s the complex situation with between seals, pups and shipping in ice. And as Nancy shipping, it’s an essential service which has environmental Kinner describes in her article on spill response, remote- impact but can contribute significantly to economic growth ness adds to the already difficult task of cleaning up spills. and increased standard of living for many northerners. Ice exacerbates the response and restoring a spoiled eco- As many of our authors have outlined, the impacts from system is an impossible task. shipping are severe and the risks real to both marine habi- As Arctic and other flag states grapple with the IMO’s tat and food security in the north. Risks are equally high if (International Maritime Organization) Polar Code, a set essential goods and development don’t reach people in the of Arctic specific shipping regulations, Michael Kingston north. Our challenge is to get the rules right that reduce has been leading an initiative for an Arctic Marine Best accidents and conflicts, and provide opportunity for people Practice Information Forum. It is a laudable project which in the Arctic. l The Circle 3.2016 3 IN BRIEF Polar bear close to the North Pole. pronounced in areas of the Anthrax outbreak far north. The warmer cli- mate has begun thawing the triggered by permafrost soil that covers much of Russia, including warming kills boy cemeteries and animal burial grounds. Thawing permafrost in Arctic Circle has also led to greater erosion of river banks where nomads A 12-YEAR-OLD BOY in the often buried their dead, Koko- far north of Russia died in rin said. an outbreak of anthrax that Declining ice experts believe was trig- gered when unusually warm Russia puts hold weather caused the release of pressures Arctic wildlife the bacteria. Photo: Christopher Michel, CC, Flickr.com The boy was one of 72 on drilling THE ARCTIc’S summer ly vulnerable to extreme nomadic herders, including THE RUSSIAN government has sea ice has hit a near- heat – the region is warm- 41 children, hospitalised in announced a temporary mor- record low extent, putting ing at twice the rate of the the town of Salekhard in the atorium on new offshore oil pressure on the region’s rest of the world. Glob- Arctic Circle, after reindeer and gas licenses for drilling wildlife. Figures from the ally, the past 16 months began dying en masse from on the country’s Arctic shelf. US National Snow and have each broken consec- anthrax. “In light of macroeconomic Ice Data Centre indicate utive heat records, with Five adults and two other instability, the government the ice hit a low of just July and August 2016 tied children have been diagnosed has declared a moratorium over four million square as the hottest months ever with the disease, which is on the allocation of new kilometres in early Sep- recorded. 2016 may go known as “Siberian plague” in offshore license areas in the tember, well below the down as the hottest year Russian and was last seen in Arctic,” Natural Resources average. The low occurs ever recorded. the region in 1941. Minister Sergei Donskoi said as a new paper shows that The continued warming More than 2,300 reindeer at a meeting between Presi- all 19 of the world’s polar trend turns up the heat have died, and at least 63 peo- dent Vladimir Putin and gov- bear subpopulations are on national governments ple have been evacuated from ernment members. facing trends of declining to speed up ratification of a quarantine area around the WWF-Russia has long ice coverage. the Paris agreement on site of the outbreak. advocated for such a morato- “We are seeing more tackling climate change. Anthrax can survive in rium, which it says will allow species moving in to take To enter into force, the frozen human and animal Russia to redirect financial advantage of warming agreement must be remains for hundreds of support for risky offshore Arctic waters, and special- ratified by at least 55 years, waiting to be released Arctic development to less ized Arctic species such as countries representing by a thaw, according to Alexei environmentally hazardous polar bears showing signs at least 55 per cent of Kokorin, head of WWF Rus- projects on land. of stress in some regions,” global greenhouse gas sia’s climate and energy pro- Offshore drilling in the says Melanie Lancaster emissions. WWF believes gramme. Arctic is extremely perilous of WWF’s Arctic Pro- urgent and accelerated “Such anomalous heat is due to the Arctic’s extreme gramme.