Commercial vessels
bring stressors & risks
to an undisturbed ecosystem.
As the floating ice-reef recedes and creates a newly accessible ocean, the biodiversity within the Central Arctic Ocean, already challenged by stressors resulting from greenhouse gases, now faces the introduction of direct stressors from surface vessel activity.
The most biologically active layer of these waters is warming and acidifying faster than anywhere on Earth due to greenhouse gas emissions – and these environmental threats to species are intensifying due to the Arctic Amplification Effect.
The direct stressors posed by the vessels involved in commercial fishing, international shipping and hydrocarbon extraction put at heightened risk the function of the Arctic Ocean’s ecosystem services.