More ice than normal

Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers respond to more requests for service this winter around P.E.I. coast

Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers have been busier than usual around Prince Edward Island this year, and the work may not be done yet.

The coast guard held a conference call from St. John’s, N.L., with the media on Wednesday to provide an update on spring icebreaking around Atlantic Canada.

Trevor Hodgson, icebreaking superintendent for the Atlantic region of the coast guard, told The Guardian that ice has been thicker around the Island this winter.

“We saw that cold snap in late December, early January which started developing ice in the southwestern gulf,’’ Hodgson said. “That filled in with more ice pouring in from the St. Lawrence River. We did see the P.E.I. coast get surrounded by ice a lot earlier this year than we normally would.’’

As the winter progressed, he said conditions started to normalize, but in March a lot of the ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence packed into the coast of the Island and into the Northumberland Strait.

“Where we are right now in the season is we have more ice than normal around the Prince Edward Island coast, especially on the north coast, and the east and west entrances to the Northumberland Strait and that ice is probably a lot heavier than what you’d normally see there.’’ Hodgson blamed some of it on a series of northeasterly weather events that caused the ice to compact it onto the coast.

“It’s going to take a little bit of wind and energy to break that up.’’

It meant icebreakers were busier this winter than last winter.

Hodgson said they’ve had 185 calls for service this winter so far, compared to 125 at this time last year.

“That’s icebreaker requests. That’s having an icebreaker do some work in an area.’’ From December through May, icebreaking is the busiest program for the coast guard. The Atlantic region extends from the northern tip of Labrador to the southwestern tip of Nova Scotia. Hodgson also said that an icebreaker has been called in to smash through pack ice off the northeast coast of New Brunswick in an unusual bid to help the critically endangered North Atlantic right whales which are expected to make their way to Canadian waters later this spring. The goal is to allow local snow crab fishermen to complete their work in the Gulf of St. Lawrence earlier than usual. This should reduce the number of ship strikes and entanglements with fishing gear that killed so many whales last year.

The federal government’s decision to move up the start date for the snow crab season in the gulf was announced last month by Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc.