Canada draws line in the ice over Arctic seabed

The Canadian government shows no sign of flinching in the face of new Russian....

  The Canadian government shows no sign of flinching in the face of new Russian claims to a vast stretch of Arctic Ocean seabed that could conflict with this country's own territorial ambitions."Canada's sovereignty over the lands and waters of the Canadian Arctic is long-standing, well-established and based on historic title," the Department of Foreign Affairs told CanWest News Service on Friday, in response to reports that Russian scientists have amassed fresh geological evidence supporting their country's claim to about 1.2 million square kilometres of the Arctic seafloor -- and the potential oil riches that lie below."Canadian and Russian officials have discussed our respective continental shelf research programs and Canada was made aware of plans for a Russian expedition to study their extended continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean," the Foreign Affairs statement said. "Canada will continue to assert its sovereignty in the Arctic, including in our internal waters. The Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces are currently examining options to improve surveillance and response capabilities, expand overall presence, and enhance command and control in the North."Russia's latest territorial claims centre on the Lomonosov Ridge, an undersea mountain range that extends about 1,500 kilometres across the Arctic Ocean seabed between Canada's northernmost point, Ellesmere Island, and Siberia. Rising as much as 3,500 metres above the ocean floor and ranging in width from 50 to 100 kilometres, the ridge itself is not considered a likely source of oil.But proving the submarine mountain chain is an extension of the Eurasian continental shelf could give Russia dibs on a huge area of undersea lands adjacent to the Lomonosov. Canada has been working with scientists from Denmark - which has authority over Greenland - hoping to prove the ridge is an extension of the North American continent.Canada already exercises control over seabed resources within an economic zone that extends 200 nautical miles from the country's coast. Under UNCLOS, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a country can secure rights to seabed territory reaching far beyond the 200-mile limit if it can prove -- within 10 years of ratifying the agreement -- that a portion of the ocean floor is geologically linked to its continental shelf.Russia ratified UNCLOS in 1997 and submitted a claim to the UN commission in 200, which was rejected as scientifically unsubstantiated. Now the Russians are working to finalize seabed surveys and other research to bolster their previous claim for rights to a huge swath of the Arctic Ocean bottom.Dr. Jacob Verhoef, the federal scientist leading Canada's own continental shelf research, told Canwest News Service on Thursday that the undersea territories formally claimed by Russia and Canada might be separated by a buffer of international waters, might meet mid-way across the Arctic Ocean, or might "overlap" in areas of contested ownership.