Canada’s Arctic is opening faster than protection efforts are keeping pace. As sea ice declines, shipping is expanding across Arctic and sub-Arctic waters.

That may bring economic opportunities, but it also raises the risk of fuel spills and other pollution in some of the most fragile coastal environments on Earth. The real question is no longer whether the Arctic is at risk. It’s whether Canada is ready for the kind of spill response these places actually require.

The answer is: not yet.

Arctic conditions are changing. September sea ice extent fell from 7.05 million square kilometres in 1979 to 4.37 million square kilometres in 2023. Over the same period, Arctic shipping grew, with traffic in the region reaching 12 million nautical miles in 2022.

More open water means more vessel traffic, longer shipping seasons and more pressure on northern coastlines. It also means a higher chance that a marine accident could turn into a shoreline emergency.

Arctic shorelines aren’t easy places to clean up. Oil does not behave the same way in icy, remote and cold environments as it does in warmer waters. It can be trapped by sea ice, pushed onto shorelines, mixed into snow or persist in sediments and coastal habitats that recover very slowly.

Cleanup is also harder because responders, vessels and equipment may have to travel long distances, often........

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