Canadian Arctic Sea Ice Melt 1-3 Weeks Early In Coastal Areas - Fishing Fleets Forced Farther Afield

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The Canadian Arctic is facing another year of open water with the summer break-up of sea ice ahead of schedule in many key parts of the northern archipelago.

The early break-up of ice underlines the growing impact of climate change in the Poles where temperatures have risen much more rapidly than in the rest of the world. As a result, September 2007 was the first time in living memory the entire Northwest Passage was open water from east to west. Despite slightly more ice, a record six private yachts transited the historic waterway last year, and this year’s traffic could beat that number.

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An ice forecast issued by the Canadian Ice Service on July 1 showed earlier than normal break up in many key areas in the Western Arctic. “In the Western Arctic region, the break-up pattern is one to three weeks early in many coastal areas and by as much as one month in isolated areas,” the report said.

Guy Collins works with the captains of the fishing boats who unload their catch at the docks of the Unisea fish processing plant in Dutch Harbor. He says while tighter quotas have helped revive some depleted species, rising temperatures also appeared to be affecting fishing grounds. “They have to go further north toward Russia now to get the fish that are near the ice. It used to be the boats would go out 100 miles, now they go out 500 miles. It could be partly due to temperature change and weather patterns.”

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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4f5858ba-7153-11de-a821-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1