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| Great White North |
| Experts skeptical of Canada's Northwest Passage claims |
| 2006-08-13 |
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #5 PSSST Mr Prime Minister the duckies have already violated your sovereignty when they came through that passage a long time ago. BOSTON July 2003- Being thrown from a container ship, drifting for more than a decade, bobbing through three oceans — it's enough to turn a rubber duckie white. A floating flock of the bathtub toys — along with beavers, turtles and frogs — is believed to be washing ashore somewhere along the New England coast, bleached and battered from a trans-Arctic journey. Oceanographers say the trip has taught them valuable lessons about the ocean's currents. The toys have been adrift since 29,000 of them fell from a storm-tossed container ship en route from China to Seattle more than 11 years ago. From a point in the Pacific Ocean near where the 45th parallel meets the international date line, they floated along the Alaska coast, reaching the Bering Strait by 1995 and Iceland five years later. By 2001 they had floated to the area in the north Atlantic where the Titanic sank. "Some kept going, some turned and headed to Europe," says Curtis Ebbesmeyer of Seattle, a retired oceanographer who's been tracking the toys' progress. "By now, hundreds should be dispersed along the New England coast." Ebbesmeyer has been able to track the toys with the help of duckies that washed ashore along the way. He said they have been a useful tool in teaching oceanography, and have shed light on the way surface currents behave. |
| Posted by: GK 2006-08-13 11:25 |
| #4 Stephen Harper recognizes that sovreignty is a function of safe borders. Even northern borders. Experts should stick to figuring out how to draw a 200 mile boundary across and island archepelago. As for global warming opening up the Northwest Passage, I'm waiting for Algores canoe trip. |
| Posted by: john 2006-08-13 09:21 |
| #3 A Chinese "research" vessel showed up unannounced in Tuktoyaktuk in August '99. That set of a few alarm bells. |
| Posted by: Classical_Liberal 2006-08-13 02:29 |
| #2 Who remembers that a US Supertanker made that passage in 1969? Internationalizing the waters would invite unwanted third parties. It would be in Canada's interest to sign a treaty with the US. Exclusive Canadian sovereignty over water ways between Alaska and the US Atlantic States is a non-starter. |
| Posted by: Snease Shaiting3550 2006-08-13 02:15 |
| #1 It all aboot the money, eh? |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2006-08-13 00:51 |