24 / Canadian Government Executive // Summer 2023 ARCTIC Security and Defence, held in Ottawa, that enhancing maritime domain awareness would be part of the future modernization of NORAD.” If Canada is serious about improving its arctic maritime domain awareness, one of the simple and inexpensive ways to do it is to increase the number of ships that are obligated to report to NORDREG, and to require them to continuously emit on AIS while in Canadian waters. As I suggested at the Canadian Maritime Advisory Council Prairie and Northern Region meeting in Québec City, on 11 May 2023: “Amend the Northern Canada Vessel Traffic Services Zone Regulations as follows: • That vessels of 15 tons and above be prescribed as classes of vessels for the purposes of subsections 126(1) and (3) of the Act in respect of the NORDREG Zone • That vessels over 15 tons maintain an Automatic Identification System active while operating in the NORDREG Zone” These requirements would result in significant benefits. All federal ministries with responsibilities in the Arctic would benefit from a more complete domain awareness. The vessels themselves would benefit from increased safety: in the case of an emergency, the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG), which manages NORDREG, would immediately know which vessels would be the closest to provide assistance. The incidence of searchand-rescue (SAR) operations could be reduced, as well as the impact on annual community resupply. Indeed, among the tasks performed by the CCG, the SAR function has a higher priority than annual community resupply. Therefore, the annual resupply of an Inuit community risks being delayed or even cancelled whenever CCG icebreakers must attend a SAR situation caused by an unprepared vessel. Any delay on the delivery increases the cost of the annual sealift resupply of arctic communities. The Nunavut Association of Municipalities is fully supportive of the recommendation to increase the NORDREG reporting and transmitting on AIS. They are increasingly concerned with the growing number of super yachts arriving unannounced on their doorstep, entering marine protected areas, “For witnesses, the main surveillance gap in the Arctic concerns the detection of threats and underwater activities. They underscored that Canada currently has no capability to detect submarines, underwater UAVs or other types of submersible systems operating in the Arctic Ocean.” International Submarine Engineering Explorer
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