Conducting Marine Science in the Arctic - The Changing Arctic Environment: The Arctic Messenger - page 223

However, in that year, the Coast Guard and oceanographic fleets came under joint manage-
ment within the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Gradually, Coast Guard ships began
to be used as scientific platforms - some of which ventured to the Arctic in winter. Then,
in June 2002, a consortium of Canadian universities and federal agencies produced a plan
to convert the decommissioned icebreaker Sir John Franklin into a truly dedicated Arctic-
capable research vessel. The proposal was accepted by the International Joint Ventures
FundoftheCanadaFoundationforInnovation(CFI).Withthehelpofsimilarcontributions
from other agencies (particularly the Department of Fisheries and Oceans), the ship's trans-
formation took place. In 2004, it reentered service as the research icebreaker Amundsen in
honour of the famous Norwegian, Roald Amundsen. As a general rule, it is available for
scientific research from May to December and spends the rest of the year on icebreaking
duty in the St. Lawrence.
The people who recognized the quiescent opportunity of the decommissioned Frank-
lin , connected this vision to potential funding mechanisms and then pursued their dream
should be justly proud of their efforts. They were responsible for one of the two initiatives
that have led to a renaissance in Canadian Arctic environmental science at a time when
government investment in such activities has been shrinking. The other initiative has been
ArcticNet, launched in 2003. ArcticNet is a large research network funded by the Canadian
governmentthroughtheNetworksofCentresofExcellence(NCE)programme.ArcticNet's
executive director, Martin Fortier, has developed a very effective management strategy that
identifies, evaluates and addresses information needs for northern decision making. The
science is organised in a way that depends on the benefits of interdisciplinary studies being
able to cross-fertilize each other. The key has been the concept of the Integrated Regional
Impact Study (IRIS). There are four IRISs - each dedicated to a different region of Arctic
Canada (Western and Central Arctic; Eastern Arctic; Eastern Subarctic; and Hudson Bay)
and each focused on the consequences of environmental change to society and ecosystems.
What is it like to work on an icebreaking Arctic research vessel, such as the Amund-
sen , in the twenty-first century? The last time I sailed on an icebreaker in ice was on a sister
ship to the Sir John Franklin in the mid-1980s in Lancaster Sound. I have only been on the