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Old 09-13-2019, 12:33 PM
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Boats Boats is offline
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Exclamation Russian Navy commandos boarded a cargo vessel on Northern Sea Route

Russian Navy commandos boarded a cargo vessel on Northern Sea Route
By: Atle Staalesen - The Independent Barents Observer - 9-13-19
RE: https://www.arctictoday.com/russian-...ern-sea-route/

It's thought to be the first time the Russian Navy has taken action against a civilian vessel on the Northern Sea Route.

Photo link: https://www.arctictoday.com/wp-conte...ov-mil.ru_.jpg
A Russian Defense Ministry photo shows the vessel S. Kuznetsov, which was boarded by naval commandos while sailing the Northern Sea Route. (Mil.ru via The Independent Barents Observer)
Russia’s Northern Fleet has stopped a ship suspected of violating sailing regulations in the remote Arctic waters of the Northern Sea Route. It is believed to be the first time ever that the Northern Fleet has taken such action against a commercial ship in the area.

The operation was conducted in the Solnechaya Bay on the northernmost tip of great peninsula Taymyr, according to the Northern Fleet. Marines from the anti-submarine vessel Vice-Admiral Kulakov conducted the raid, using light speed boats to board the cargo ship S. Kuznetsov.

The action was carried out in cooperation with forces from the Coast Guard.

It is not known what kind of violations that the S. Kuznetsov is suspected of. The ship is now located on the coast of the Taymyr Peninsula, coordinates from the Northern Sea Route Administration show.

According to the Northern Fleet, the action against the vessel included control of premises for staff and cargo, as well as ship documentation and personal crew papers. A series of violations were revealed and legal follow-up is in the making, representatives of the Navy confirm.

The S. Kuznetsov is owned by the Northern Shipping Company and has the permission needed for sailing in the area all through fall. Judging from documents from the Sea Route Administration, the ship is allowed to sail in the Arctic waters until February 20, 2020.

The ship has ice-class Arc4. It had been in the Bolshevik Island, a part of the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, to deliver goods.

The remote archipelago is place for the development of a new and upgraded military base.

The operation by the Russian marines was conducted during the ongoing voyage of a powerful Navy flotilla headed by Vice-Admiral Kulakov.

The voyage started on August 5 and has included a number of exercises, among them along the Yenisey river. The flotilla is expected to proceed through the Laptev Sea and to the New Siberian Islands where a major new military base is now operational.

According to the Northern Fleet, the raid of the S. Kuznetsov has provided the first experience in interacting with the Coast Guard in processual action against ships in the Arctic.

The Russian Navy has over the last years significantly strengthened its presence along the Northern Sea Route. However, it is the Coast Guard, a branch of the FSB, that has has the main responsibility for law enforcement in the area.

A bill signed in 2016 gives the FSB the full prerogatives for law enforcement in the area. With the powers formalized, the FSB will autonomously be able to take action against ships operating along the Russian Arctic coast.

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I'll be those seaman could've pissed their pants with the Russian boarding. Luck our Coast Guard was also on site to prevent any additional issues that may have happen.

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Another issue happening now in the Arctic:
Topic: Ice seal die-offs in Alaska have spurred a government investigation
By: Yereth Rosen - Reuters 9-13-19
RE: https://www.arctictoday.com/ice-seal...investigation/

Almost 300 Arctic ice seals have been found dead on Alaska beaches since the start of last summer.

Photo link: https://www.arctictoday.com/wp-conte...S-1068x580.jpg

ANCHORAGE — U.S. government biologists are investigating the deaths of nearly 300 Arctic ice seals found on Alaska beaches since last summer, federal officials said on Thursday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday declared the seal die-off an “unusual mortality event,” a designation that allows extra resources to be used to determine the cause.

So far, 282 seal carcasses have been discovered since June 2018. Fewer than half — 119 — were found last year, NOAA said. That’s five times the normal mortality rate for such seals, according to NOAA.

The carcasses likely account for a small fraction of the total number of dead seals, as scientists assume the majority of stricken animals would sink after dying or otherwise never make it to shore, said Julie Speegle, an Alaska spokeswoman for NOAA’s Fisheries Service.

The die-off comes as Arctic Alaska sea ice is scarce and sea temperatures are unusually high — conditions most scientists attribute to global warming brought on by human-caused increases of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere.

Those warm conditions may be a possible cause of the die-off, Speegle said.

“That’s definitely one of a number of factors,” she said.

The die-off has affected bearded seals and ringed seals, which are listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, and spotted seals, which are not. All three species depend on floating sea ice for resting, pup-rearing and other critical life functions.

As with other recent die-offs in Alaska, some of the seals have appeared to be undernourished, Speegle said.

Biologists also are testing for toxins the animals may have ingested from algae blooms stoked by warm conditions.

The Bering Sea has seen rising water temperatures since late 2013, said Brian Brettschneider, a climatologist with the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Waters off Alaska were empty of ice much earlier than normal this year, allowing the water to absorb more solar heat, which inhibits future freezing, leading more open water to absorb heat, Brettschneider said.

“It feeds on itself,” he said.

Biologists are also investigating a mass die-off of gray whales along the U.S. West Coast, and the fifth consecutive year of mass bird deaths in Alaska.

So far this year, according to NOAA data, 212 dead gray whales have been found in Pacific waters from Mexico to Alaska. Forty-four of those have been in Alaska, Speegle said.

This population of gray whales feeds mostly during the Arctic summers in the Bering and Chukchi seas off northwestern Alaska.

Biologists suspect that warming seas there have disrupted the food chain, preventing the whales from eating enough in Alaska waters last summer to carry them through this year’s migration.

Mass seabird deaths, which started in 2015 in Alaska, are likewise linked to unusually warm conditions in the oceans. Affected species include common murres, puffins, northern fulmars and short-tailed shearwaters.

NOTE: CLIMATE CHANGE IS BEGINNING TO EFFECT THE ANIMALS IN THE NORTH.
This should not be taken lightly and an investigation needs to see how this can be prevented.

Boats
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Boats

O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
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