Breaking the ice with the locals
June 9th, 2009 | Coast Guard Naval Academy | Posted by Susan Schept
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Michael Anderson
If you fall off your boat, it just might be your destiny.
That’s something that was a little hard for Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen to swallow during his trip to the Arctic region last year.
Allen had everyone’s ears when he spoke Tuesday morning at the Naval Academy on the Coast Guard’s emerging role in the Arctic. As climate change continues to decrease ice cover, the service has its work cut out for it in addressing how to handle increased shipping traffic, commercial fishing, eco-tourism and drilling for natural gas and oil.
Allen emphasized the need to engage the local indigenous population to learn how to handle the challenging weather conditions. He brought up a story on how difficult that might be. During a trip to Point Barrow, Alaska, in August, the Coast Guard offered the local population boating safety courses. The opportunity to get free life vests fell flat.
“They won’t wear a life jacket. It’s orange, and it can be seen by a polar bear. [And] they said if you fall out of a boat, you must be intended to die … so we need to do some outreach.”
His comments came at the the Third Symposium on the Impacts of an Ice-Diminishing Arctic on Naval & Maritime Operations, which runs Tuesday to Thursday.