Arctic marine safety research gets a boost

An artist’s depiction of an Arctic offshore patrol ship under construction at Irving Shipbuilding’s Halifax shipyard. The company has invested $2 million into nine research projects looking at marine safety in the Canadian Arctic. (FILE IMAGE)

Nine Arctic-based research projects will share $2 million in funding from the Nunavut Research Institute and Irving Shipbuilding Inc., the two organizations announced this week.

The Iqaluit-based Nunavut Research Institute issued a call for proposals last June and drew 26 research project applications. A committee narrowed down the list to nine projects, all of them aimed at marine safety across the Canadian Arctic.

Three of the projects selected are Nunavut-specific: a Dalhousie University study on improving and monitoring the territory’s water quality, and a University of Calgary-led initiative to establish a Nunavut weather station network along with a Nunavut Arctic College project to create resources for safe marine travel in the territory.

Other projects take a more Arctic-wide approach by looking at marine wildlife health, best shipping practices and building capacity to respond to oil spills.

The funded projects will collectively contribute to a “vibrant future” for the marine research industry in Canada’s North, said Joe Adla Kunuk, president of Nunavut Arctic College.

“This is a valuable opportunity to build our capacity to facilitate and administer funding for research in our communities,” Kunuk said in an Oct. 4 release.

The $2 million flows from a fund Irving Shipbuilding created earlier this year—a condition of the Halifax-based shipyard’s $25-billion federal contract to build Arctic patrol vessels.

Irving Shipbuilding is committed to investing 0.5 per cent of contract revenues towards a sustainable marine industry, which amounts to about $12 million over the duration of the contract.