Canadian Coast Guard ships set out for Arctic season

The Canadian Coast Guard’s annual Arctic operational season is underway.

Eight icebreakers will deploy from June to November, announced the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Thursday in a news release.

Three of the vessels have already departed on their respective missions:

• June 14 – CCGS Vincent Massey departed Quebec City for icebreaking in Frobisher Bay and Hudson Strait;
• June 17 – CCGS Pierre Radisson left Quebec City for icebreaking, opening and maintenance of the Killiniq weather and communication station, commissioning aids to navigation in the Hudson Strait, refueling the remote Eureka station, science, and Canadian Hydrographic Service surveys;
• June 19 – CCGS Terry Fox departed St. John’s, N.L., for icebreaking and Operation Pacer Goose, the annual resupply of Pituffik Space Base in Greenland.

Five more will depart later this summer:

• July 5 – CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier will leave Victoria, B.C., for icebreaking, aids to navigation maintenance in the western Arctic, science, resupply and hydrographic service surveys;
• July 8 – CCGS Amundsen will depart Quebec City for science missions led by Amundsen Science;
• July 27- CCGS Henry Larsen will leave St. John’s, N.L., for icebreaking and hydrographic service surveys;
• August 1 – CCGS Des Groseilliers will depart Quebec City for icebreaking and hydrographic service surveys;
• August 3 – CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent will depart St. John’s, N.L., for icebreaking, the Joint Ocean Ice Study scientific mission in Beaufort Sea, and the closing of the Killiniq weather and communication station.

Coast Guard ships assist the shipping industry during annual resupply missions by supporting safe and efficient navigation in Arctic waters, providing daily updates on ice conditions and operations, and offering ice escorts when needed to industry and partners, the agency said.

Government and academic researchers will join some of the ships to carry out scientific projects and hydrographic surveys. Hydrographers will sail aboard four Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers to conduct survey work and increase the amount of sea floor surveyed in the Arctic to support charting.

The Canadian Coast Guard’s seasonal marine communication and traffic services centre in Iqaluit, which helps ensure safe navigation in the Arctic, opened May 15 and will remain open until mid-December.

The Arctic marine response station in Rankin Inlet will reopen June 23 to provide local maritime search-and-rescue services during the summer season.