02-02 Disputes

It took a cruise to Greenland to change my thinking about the Canada-US border as something with undiscovered economic and political implications. The people of Greenland were talking about huge migrations of mackerel fish into their waters as result of water warming.
If this is happening in Greenland, it must also be happening in the Canadian Arctic. It is the old climate change issue which some people choose to ignore.
And sure enough, in the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska, there is a massive area under dispute. Are these Alaska waters or Yukon waters? And it is so interesting to discover that both Canada and the US have restricted fishing in these waters. Enormous fish migrations are anticipated.
You will also soon discover that a big part of the reason these Arctic waters are in dispute is that they are repositories of extensive amounts of oil and gas. And we are talking about billions of dollars of new wealth.
When we think of border disputes, we tend to think of places like India and Pakistan, or Israel and the Gaza Strip, but seldom Canada and the US. We have our own border disputes, of course, but we also have a history of cooperation or at least a history of avoiding conflict. But regardless, if you dig into a border dispute issue, one usually discovers that big bucks are involved.
It is interesting that these disputed areas are so difficult to resolve. We have for example the Machias Sea Island and North Rock Island off the coast of Maine where ownership is in dispute. Canada has had a lighthouse on Machias for over a hundred years to help Canada protect its sovereignty claim. But the US also claims sovereignty, Why? It is an area rich in bloody lobsters.
But the reality is that no politician wants to be seen ceding land to another nation. It would appear as a weakness. Better to have an international court serve as an arbitrator. Or better yet, pretend there is no dispute.
There is only one thing of value on Machias Sea Island besides lobsters, and that is a vast population of Atlantic Puffins, which draw tour boats in the summer weather. Love the photo.
But the big issue for the future is the Northwest Passage, which because of global warming is becoming not just an open passageway, but an area for future development. Canada considers it part of its coastline and the US considers it an international waterway. There is lots of Canadian activity in terms of ice-breakers and patrol boats in the area to protect Canadian sovereignty.
I am a firm believer in climate change and I believe those who are denying its existence do too. They are just playing politics. But climate change for Canadians is about the development of the North and the protection of its borders.