THE ARCTIC GATEWAY
STAKEHOLDERS FOCUS ON THE WAY AHEAD IN THE BERING STRAIT
BY DAISY R. KHALIFA, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
An international strait and a strategic
chokepoint for shippers, fishing vessels,
researchers and militaries from around the
world, the Bering Strait, for its relatively
diminutive geography, is the Pacific Ocean’s
Arctic gateway and one of only two entry
points to the entire Arctic region.
The U.S. Coast Guard concluded a Port Access Route
Study (PARS) in the Chukchi Sea, Bering Strait and
Bering Sea in late February following a multiyear effort
that engaged numerous interagency partners, economic stakeholders in the region, conservation groups
and nearly every indigenous community inland and
along the strait’s Alaskan coastline.
The study aims to clarify the historically poorly
charted shipping routes in the Bering Strait, which
is about 50 miles wide at its narrowest point, for
marine operators. Now in the hands of the Coast Guard
commandant’s office for final public comments and
review, the PARS is expected to move forward into
domestic rulemaking.
It also would serve as an international agreement
pending bilateral support with the Russian Federation,
a fellow Arctic nation and neighbor whose coastline
stretches along the Bering Strait directly opposite the
western Alaskan coast.
“[The Bering Strait] has got a lot of appeal as naviga-
ble waters increase, allowing for more shipping, fishing,
eco-tourists, as well as for energy development — the
‘Big Four’ I call them,” said Mike Emerson, director,
Marine Transportation System, U.S. Coast Guard. “We
anticipate seeing a lot of increased activity, not in the
coming three or four years, but in the coming decades.
And, [because] it is such a remote environment with such
Emerson said that while the Bering Strait PARS is a
long-overdue and significant document that clarifies
and sets forth the best course lines for shipping routes
through the strait, and charts the most protective areas
to be avoided (ATBAs) to safeguard wildlife and shore-
line habitats, this years-in-the-making study also
centers on international cooperation, and relies, to that
extent, on bilateral support from the Russian Federation.
