COMMERCIAL SHIPPING. No commercial shipping lanes traverse Fram Strait itself, but two key marine routes or navigation lanes to Greenland, the Arctic, and Svalbard are located in proximity to Fram Strait (Figure 2-7). One traverses a route roughly parallel to the eastern shoreline of Greenland northward into the Arctic Ocean while the second is located along the western side of Svalbard, terminating in the ports along western Svalbard (Xxxxx 2008). The major port located in eastern Greenland is Sisimuit (CIA 2009a), and the major shipping ports in western Svalbard are Barentsburg, Longyearbyen, Ny-Alesund, and Pyramiden (CIA 2009b). A commercial coal mine is located in Barentsburg. Table 2-2. Designated Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) of Greenland and Svalbard relevant to marine species and that are adjacent to the Fram Strait experimental area for the ACOBAR Experiment (Wood 2007, NDNM 2010, Xxxx 2011). Country/Area MPA Designation Date Designated Total Marine Area (km2) Greenland (Denmark) Northeast-Greenland National Park 1974 110,600 Svalbard (Norway) Bjørnøoya Nature Reserve 2002 2,805 Forlandet National Park 1973 4,018 Nordenskiöld Land National Park 2003 1,207 Nordre Isfjorden National Park 2003 904 Northwest Spitsbergen National Park 1973 6,189 South-Spitsbergen National Park 1973 8,198 Indre Wijdefjorden National Park 2005 382 Xxxxxx-Xxxxxx Land National Park 2003 73 Moffen Nature Reserve 1983 4 Northeast Svalbard Nature Reserve 1973 36,691 Southeast Svalbard Nature Reserve 1973 25,436 Hopen Nature Reserve 2003 3,140 Festningen Geotope Protection Area 2003 3 Figure 2-6. Marine Protected Areas of Svalbard (NDNM 2010). Figure 2-7. Major shipping lanes or routes in the Fram Strait area (Xxxxx 2008a). During the summer months, there are many commercial fishing vessels in the southern Fram Strait due to the high level of fishing effort (Xxxxx 2007) and several commercial cruise lines voyage through the Svalbard archipelago on sightseeing trips (CruiseNorway 2009).
COMMERCIAL SHIPPING. No commercial shipping lanes traverse Fram Strait itself but the two key marine routes or navigation lanes in the area are located on the perimeters of the Strait along Greenland and Svalbard’s continental shelves. The experimental equipment were not located at the sea surface but were deployed at 400 to 560 m depth in the water column. No effects on commercial shipping activities or shipping routes were reasonably expected in association with the ACOBAR Experiment.
