Arctic Ecosystem Research | National Newspaper Feature

Client: Department of Fisheries and Oceans / Canwest Media.

Project assignment: Enhance public understanding of the delicate nature of the Arctic ecosystem and need for continued research to manage it effectively in the face of a coming gas development boom.

Approach: Spent a week on board a research ship in the Beaufort Sea, following the work of leading Canadian scientists. Wrote Fragile Arctic, a full page newspaper science feature that was published across Canada. The piece told of the struggles of the crew to complete their work in perilous conditions – and of the potential for disaster if the fragile arctic ecosystem is upset by development.

Excerpt:

As the Canadian Coast Guard ship Nahidik grates against a ragged sheet of ice in the Beaufort Sea, Capt. Adriaan Kooiman spins the wheel and mutters: ‘I’m not supposed to be in here. This is big ice.’

The others on the bridge say nothing. They know he’s right, but no one wants to turn back. All are veteran Arctic researchers, who have come north for three weeks as part of a government research team to study the potential effects of the coming oil and gas boom on the local marine environment. So far, unseasonably thick ice cover, fog and gales have scuppered much of their work. With just a day or two of valuable ship time left, they’re anxious to reach their destination — an abandoned underwater drill island called Issungnak, 85 kilometres northwest of Tuktoyaktuk.
For three hours, they hover on the bridge, watching Kooiman ease the Nahidik through the ice as if she were swimming through broken glass. The old ship is not an icebreaker — if she hits a floe at speed, it’ll slice her thin hull wide open.

Read the full article on the Nahidik as printed in the Calgary Herald’s Business section