page_title: 1985 Polar Sea controversy
section_title: Voyage
hierarchical_section_title: 1985 Polar Sea controversy / Voyage
caption_attribution_description: English: 091120-G-0000X-001 BEAUFORT SEA (Nov. 20, 2009) An international research expedition being conducted in the Beaufort Sea aboard the Coast Guard heavy icebreaker ship USCGC Polar Sea, WAGB-11, organized and led by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)‚ Marine Biogeochemistry section.
context_page_description: The 1985 Polar Sea controversy was a diplomatic event triggered by plans for the navigation of USCGC Polar Sea through the Northwest Passage from Greenland to Alaska without formal authorization from the Canadian government. It was the United States' position that the Northwest Passage was an international strait open to shipping and it sought only to notify Canada rather than ask for permission.
  Publication of the plans enraged the Canadian public opinion as it was regarded as a breach and disregard of sovereignty and prompted the government to take preventive measures in defending Canada's arctic territories. The U.S. never recognized Canada's claim over the Northwest passage but nevertheless, the two countries reached an agreement two years later which stipulated that in the future, the U.S. would ask permission before navigating the disputed waters.
  Canada's sovereignty over the region's waters was still a contentious issue as of 2010 and is likely to become of increasing importance as climate change in the Arctic has the potential to render those waters more accessible to commercial ships and the thawing of the sea ice of making oil drilling easier.
context_section_description: In 1985, USCGC Polar Sea sparked controversy by navigating the Northwest passage from Greenland to Alaska without formal authorization from the Canadian government. At the time, Polar Sea was on a routine resupply operation and it was deemed by the United States Coast Guard that utilizing the Northwest Passage instead of the Panama Canal would yield considerable savings in time. Permission for the voyage was not officially sought by the United States government because of its position that the Northwest Passage is an international strait open to shipping. Conversely, the Canadian government opinion was that the passage was within Canada's border. Still, Canada was notified of the impending voyage and decided to cooperate with the Americans so as not to prejudice each state's legal position amidst a climate already made tense by the Cold War. Hence, it provided Canadian observers that were to stay aboard the ship for its entire resupply operation. As plans for the icebreaker's voyage became public, controversy arose in parliament with sides claiming the icebreaker's voyage would violate sovereignty while others stated it did not and called the argument "deliberately anti-American".
caption: USCGC Polar Sea (WAGB-11)
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