Not news, but an Arctic story from a time of Arctic cooperation:
In December 1984, a group of 3,000 beluga whales were trapped by ice in the Chukchi Sea, near Russia. The whales were confined to small open water ponds surrounded by thick, impassable ice up to 10...
The successful rescue effort lasted several days and was later dubbed “Operation Beluga.” It was a massive undertaking that involved several countries, including the Soviet Union, the United States, Canada, and Japan.
Tupsis
April 30, 2024, 4:19am
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“Operation Beluga” took place in the Senyavin Strait and was a fully Soviet operation involving the 1960-built icebreaker Moskva . I have not heard of United States, Canada or Japan having anything to do with the operation to save 3,000 beluga whales (2,000 of which escaped) deep in Soviet waters in February 1985.
However, there was a separate incident involving Admiral Makarov and another ice-strengthened ship, Vladimir Arseniev , off Alaska in 1988. “Operation Breakthrough” was an attempt to free three gray whales were trapped in ice near Point Barrow. Although it was a rare occasion of Soviet-American co-operation near the end of the Cold War, to my understanding neither Canada nor Japan were involved.
Japan is presumably involved in that amalgamated story due to the recent incident involving whales trapped in ice off Japan where the general public begged Japan to ask Russia to send one of its icebreakers there.
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This is happening all over the Arctic and beyond:
The call to action urges systemic reforms to the state’s support and integration of Native languages Before Monday evening’s advanced Tlingít language class, Raven Svenson and her classmate discussed how to conjugate the verb “boil” in the context of...
Est. reading time: 5 minutes
For decades Governments have tried to “integrate” indigenous people into the general population by sometime “cruel” means (Denmark with the eskimos in Greenland, Norway with the Sami and Kvaen people in Finnmark etc.) to mention two well known cases in the Arctic region.
Only recently have the Governments been forced to apologise for years of wrong doing.
The Russians are coming (for shopping):
“We keep coming over here because we’ve got used to it. We love these places, we love your [Norwegian] food,” - interviews with Russians who keep coming on shopping tours to Kirkenes, Arctic Norway.
So does the Swedes:
Souvenir hunting in Ukraine?:
By Malte Humpert (gCaptain) – Just days after the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned four heavy lift vessels for carrying LNG technology to Russia, a thus-far unsanctioned vessel Wei...
Est. reading time: 3 minutes
Arriving Ingleton, Tx. some time ago:
Some channels of cooperation still exists within the Arctic region:
OSLO (Reuters) – When Arctic nations simulated a large oil spill for a virtual training exercise in March off northern Norway, Russia also took part – a rare sign of cooperation between Moscow and the West that...
Est. reading time: 5 minutes
“We had good communication (during the oil spill exercise) with all states, including Russia, and Russia also offered assistance and we accepted that,” said Ole Kristian Bjerkemo, chair of the Arctic Council’s Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response working group, which led the drill.
The Council comprises all eight Arctic nations – the United States, Canada, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Russia – and handles issues ranging from pollution and economic development to search-and-rescue missions.
FILE PHOTO: A resident rides a bike next to a Norwegian flag fluttering in the wind in Ny-Alesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 6, 2023.
REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/File Photo
That is NOT a Norwegian National Flag but a pennant that is widely used to indicate presents at second homes, or just not to leave the flagpole empty.
PS> Pennant does NOT come under the “Flag Rules” and can thus be left up day and night:
The general rule is, raise the flag at sunrise and take it down at sunset. But since Norwegian summer days are long and winter days are short, there are some modified rules.
November 1st to February 28/29 the flag should NOT be raised before 9am and should be lowered at sunset and never later than 9pm. In the north of Norway (Nordland, Troms, Finnmark, Svalbard og Jan Mayen) the flag should be raised at 10am and lowered no later than 3pm during the winter months.
Source: AWC Oslo - The Norwegian flag
Here is a change to lay hands on the last piece of privately owned real estate in Svalbard Archipelago:
With 60 square kilometers, about the size of Manhattan, and a coastline of five kilometers, the unique faraway property on Svalbard is a geopolitical hotspot in a warming Arctic. It is AS Kulspids that is up for sale, a company holding the only...
Est. reading time: 4 minutes
60 sq.km. of real estate with 5 km. of beach for a mear US$ 300 Mln. sounds like a bargain.
No-one, except polar bears and Arctic foxes, live at the property in the inner part of Recherchefjorden. A cabin was built here in 1918 as AS Kulspids wanted to explore for coal and asbest. No commercial resources were discovered.
It is, however, not open for a potential buyer to use the property for any kind of commercial activity. Norway’s strict environmental laws apply, although Norwegian authorities cannot discriminate any residents of signature countries. Svalbard is visa-free, but the only commercial flights to the archipelago go via Tromsø and Oslo, airports that require Schengen-visa for travelers in transit to Longyearbyen.
Drones replace manned aircrafts for surveillance in the Arctic:
Iceland short of electric power?:
Internationally Iceland is known for its abundant green energy and for being a leader in hydro- and geothermal power technology, but concerns over environmental impacts has led to almost two decades of stagnation and a failure to increase energy...
Est. reading time: 7 minutes
“On the one hand, there is something we call environmental protection, and then there is nature, or ecological protection and these two concepts have a tendency to clash. When we are producing electricity with renewable methods such as hydro, then we need to sacrifice natural environment, by building dams, etc.,” says Gunnarsson. “The environmental groups who want us to become fossil fuel free, need to understand that if we want to achieve that goal, then we need to produce more electricity, which will always cause some sacrifice of nature.”
PS> Iceland grow bananas in greenhouses because heating was so cheap:
On the other side of the border:
On a more peaceful note:
CapiPro, a pioneering company based in Bodø, has clinched the prestigious High North Young Entrepreneur Award at the Arctic Congress Bodø 2024. Their approach to using polychaete worms as a sustainable protein source in fish feed earned them top...
Est. reading time: 3 minutes
But it is not all plain sailing. Rules made to protect people from harmful use of waste material can get in the way of innovative ways to use it safely::
While CapiPro has garnered accolades and significant support, including recent funding from Innovation Norway, they face regulatory challenges. Norwegian law currently prohibits the use of fish sludge in products related to human food. Vonen mentioned that until legal changes are made, they are focusing on using sugar kelp, which is currently permissible.
Don’t worry, there will soon (decades) be plenty of healthy food: Soylent Green
The last of 3 new vessels for the Norwegian Coast Guard has been delivered from the building yard:
All three new HNoCG vessels at Vard Langsten Shipyard together:
Photo: Vard Group
Jan Mayen Class:https://maritimt.com/nb/batomtaler/jan-mayen-072023
Norway has no physical barrier along its 198 kilometers land border with Russia.
Photo: Thomas Nilsen, Barents Observer
Russia’s shares a 198 kilometers long land border with Norway. Unlike Poland, the Baltic states and Finland, visitors are free to walk all the way to the actual border line, but not one centimeter longer. There are, however, no barriers hindering illegal crossings from the Norwegian side.
