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December 14, 2012

Today's Eventstodaysevents 

   

The House and Senate are not in session today.

 

Marine Mammal Commission Meeting on Research and Management Priorities, December 14, 2012. The Commission plans to meet with regional management and scientific officials in each of the National Marine Fisheries Service's six regions to identify the most pressing marine mammal research and management needs. The Commission will use these meetings to develop a set of national priorities for guiding federal conservation efforts for marine mammals. Members of the public are invited to attend these meetings and to provide comments concerning priority issues.

 

**Abstract submission period EXTENDED through December 15th**

Wakefield28th Wakefield Symposium: Responses of Arctic Marine Ecosystems to Climate Change, March 26-29, 2013. This symposium seeks to advance our understanding of responses of arctic marine ecosystems to climate change at all trophic levels, by documenting and forecasting changes in environmental processes

and species responses to those changes. Presentations will focus on collaborative approaches to understanding and managing living marine resources in a changing Arctic, and to managing human responses to changing arctic marine ecosystems. Hosted by Alaska Sea Grant and sponsors.  

Media 

 

Top Officials Meet at ONR in Response to Arctic Changes. The Navy's chief of naval research, Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, met this week with leaders from U.S. and Canadian government agencies to address research efforts in the Arctic, in response to dramatic and accelerating changes in summer sea ice coverage. "Our Sailors and Marines need to have a full understanding of the dynamic Arctic environment, which will be critical to protecting and maintaining our national, economic and security interests," said Klunder. "Our research will allow us to know what's happening, to predict what is likely to come for the region, and give leadership the information it needs to formulate the best policies and plans for future Arctic operations." R & D Magazine

 

Arctic Inspiration Prize. An immense territory of majestic beauty, the Canadian Arctic is home to a growing population of over 100,000 northern Canadians, with a majority of indigenous peoples with a millennial history and rich culture. Once considered as the last frontier, change and modernization are rapidly making the Arctic more accessible and the subject of increasing public, scientific, industrial and political interest. Addressing the challenges and seizing the opportunities of accelerating changes in the Arctic environment, culture, technology and economy require innovative approaches, mobilizing the best knowledge from various sources into concrete solutions. Arctic Inspiration Prize

 

nuunavutNunavut Research Projects Clean Up at First-Ever Arctic Inspiration Prize: Three projects to be given more than $200,000 each. Nunavut came up trumps at the first-annual Arctic Inspiration Prize at the ArcticNet Annual Scientific Meeting in Vancouver, B.C. Dec. 13. The prize is awarded to four research projects that "address pressing issues facing Canada's Arctic and its Peoples." All four get a selected chunk of a $1-million prize given by the S. and A. Inspiration Foundation. Nunatsiaq Online

 

A Second Chance for Shell Oil's "Fourth Line of Defense." The containment dome Royal Dutch Shell hopes never to use has been transformed, following an accident this September that left it "crushed like a beer can" - hampering the company's groundbreaking effort to suck oil from the Arctic Ocean off Alaska's North Slope. The failed Puget Sound sea trial for the unique dome, essentially an undersea oil-sucking vacuum cleaner, plus construction delays on the Arctic Challenger barge that will house it, stymied Shell's plans this summer to drill deep enough to reach oil this summer. The problems delayed federal regulatory approval, so Shell was merely allowed to conduct well preparation and preliminary drilling that stopped nearly a mile short of where the company expects to find oil. Alaska Dispatch 

 

russian flagTop-Secret Submarine May Settle Russia's Claim in the Arctic. A unique Arctic expedition has brought a top-secret Russian submarine into the limelight. The AS-12 bathyscaphe Losharik has now been enlisted to help Russia gain evidence of its right to territorial waters in the Arctic. Moscow is prepared to present evidence to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea that would expand Russia's territorial waters in the Arctic, thus asserting its right to the bed of the Arctic that is extremely rich in hydrocarbons. Russia filed a similar application once before, but the bid was turned down due to a lack of geological samples. The new evidence has been obtained by AS-12 Losharik - Russia's top-secret deep-sea nuclear-powered bathyscaphe. Russia & India Report

 

Qiviut: Luxury Arctic Yarn that Almost Went Extinct. The musk ox, an ancient creature that was nearly wiped out of existence a century ago, has made a comeback in the Arctic, bringing with it one of the rarest and finest fur coats on the planet. The musk ox's wooly underlayer, qiviut (pronounced "kiv-ee-ute"), is spun into a highly-prized luxury yarn, envisioned as an Arctic cottage fiber industry. Once thought impossible, musk ox domestication has proven successful, and the yarn spun from this prehistoric mammal has been quietly providing Alaska Native knitters with supplemental income since the 1960s. Alaska Dispatch

 

Opponents Line Up Against Canadian Arctic Mega Mining Project. Organizations in Canada's eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut and beyond are lining up to take part in the environmental review of the Izok Corridor Project. The international company MMG wants to build two mines southwest of the community of Kugluktuk, Nunavut. All of the mining and construction will take place within the territory, but many groups outside Nunavut say they also need to have a say. The proposed project would see two mines joined by a 350-kilometre all-weather road and a port in the Coronation Gulf, and would have a significant environmental impact. Alaska Dispatch

 

polarseaAnother Chance for US Icebreaker Polar Sea Amid Arctic Changes. Maybe the U.S. won't have just one heavy icebreaker - compared to Russia's six - after all. And that's important at a time when melting ice is opening new areas of the Arctic to commerce. The Polar Sea, one of the United States' two heavy icebreakers, is to be given another reprieve from being scrapped, under legislation passed by the U.S. Senate Dec. 12. The Coast Guard Authorization Bill, expected to be signed by President Barack Obama, includes an amendment from Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) that prohibits the U.S. Coast Guard from scrapping the 399-foot ship until the agency proves this is the most cost-effective option. Puget Sound Business Journal

Legislative Actionfutureevents  

 

No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday.

Future Events                      

         

Marine Mammal Commission Meeting on Research and Management Priorities, December 14, 2012. The Commission plans to meet with regional management and scientific officials in each of the National Marine Fisheries Service's six regions to identify the most pressing marine mammal research and management needs. The Commission will use these meetings to develop a set of national priorities for guiding federal conservation efforts for marine mammals. Members of the public are invited to attend these meetings and to provide comments concerning priority issues.

 

**Abstract submission period EXTENDED through December 15th**

Wakefield28th Wakefield Symposium: Responses of Arctic Marine Ecosystems to Climate Change, March 26-29, 2013. This symposium seeks to advance our understanding of responses of arctic marine ecosystems to climate change at all trophic levels, by documenting and forecasting changes in environmental processes

and species responses to those changes. Presentations will focus on collaborative approaches to understanding and managing living marine resources in a changing Arctic, and to managing human responses to changing arctic marine ecosystems. Hosted by Alaska Sea Grant and sponsors.  

 

Alaska Marine Science Symposium, January 21-25, 2013. Since 2002, scientists from Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and beyond have come to the Symposium to communicate research activities in the marine regions off Alaska. Researchers and students in marine science re-connect with old colleagues and meet new ones. Plenary and poster sessions feature a broad spectrum of ocean science. Hear the latest in the fields of climate, oceanography, lower trophic levels, the benthos, fishes and invertebrates, seabirds, marine mammals, local and traditional knowledge, and socioeconomic research. The Symposium also features compelling keynote speakers, workshops and special sessions.

  

Alaska Forum on the Environment, February 4-8, 2013. Hosted by The Alaska Forum, Inc. the 2013 Alaska Forum on the Environment will follow up on previous forums by offering training and information, includes plenary sessions, on: climate change, emergency response, environmental regulations, fish and wildlife populations, rural issues, energy, military issues, business issues, solid waste, contaminants, contaminated site cleanup, mining and others.  For 2013, the forum will expand forum content to provide information to help better understand issues surrounding coastal communities. This will include tsunami impacts, marine debris, and coastal erosion.

  

Arctic Observing Summit 2013, April 30- May 2, 2013. The Arctic Observing Summit is led by the International Study of Arctic Change (ISAC). It is a Sustaining Arctic Observing Network (SAON) task and part of the broader SAON implementation process, which is led by the Arctic Council jointly with the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). AOS is a high-level, biennial summit that aims to provide community-driven, science-based guidance for the design, implementation, coordination and sustained long term (decades) operation of an international network of arctic observing systems. The AOS will provide a platform to address urgent and broadly recognized needs of arctic observing across all components of the arctic system, including the human component. It will foster international communication and coordination of long-term observations aimed at improving understanding and responding to system-scale arctic change. The AOS will be an international forum for optimizing resource allocation through coordination and exchange among researchers, funding agencies, and others involved or interested in long term observing activities, while minimizing duplication and gaps.

 

International Conference on Arctic Ocean Acidification, May 6-8, 2013.

The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP), the Institute of Marine Research, the Norwegian Institute for Water Research, the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research, and the University of British Columbia, Canada, host a conference to consider Arctic Ocean acidification. Topics will include

response of Arctic Ocean to increasing CO2 and related changes in the global carbon cycle, social and policy challenges, Arctic Ocean acidification and ecological and biogeochemical coupling, implications of changing Arctic Ocean acidification for northern (commercial and subsistence) fisheries, and future developments.

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