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Transcript
Canada’s boundaries are pretty well defined, right? We know where our borders lie. We also know that everything within 200 nautical miles of our coast is part of our country. But what about beyond that?
This is “Science at Work”, where we showcase the great work conducted by the scientists and engineers at NRCan…
Canada is party to an international agreement called the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
This agreement recognizes that coastal states can obtain rights and jurisdiction over their continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.
As part of this agreement, countries must collect scientific data to map the outer limits of their respective continental shelves. Each country will provide a submission with their results to the United Nations as part of a review process to clearly define each country’s offshore boundaries.
Canada has two large continental shelves, one off the Atlantic coast and the other in the Arctic.
Natural Resources Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Global Affairs Canada, with the help of other federal departments and agencies, are working on Canada’s submission.
Several scientific expeditions have been conducted in collaboration with other countries over the past decade to collect data needed to map our continental shelves.
Arctic expeditions have proven to be quite the challenge. Canadian scientists have conducted surveys from ice camps and ships. Ship-based surveys are done using two heavy-duty icebreakers because, even during the summer months, the Arctic Ocean is still covered with ice, sometimes 3 to 4 metres thick!
To collect the required data, scientists have been using cutting-edge technology—from multibeam sonar, to state-of-the-art autonomous underwater vehicles, to instruments that can survive being towed through waters covered in ice.
It’s estimated that Canada’s extended continental shelves could add about 2 million square kilometres to our country. That’s about the size of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba combined!
So, why is determining the extent of our continental shelf so important? Well, countries will not only have rights over the natural resources found on and beneath the seabed, but will also have jurisdiction over activities like the marine scientific research that can be conducted there. And once they receive international recognition, the outer limits of Canada’s extended continental shelf will become our new offshore boundaries.
Defining our extended continental shelf is just one of the many ways that Natural Resources Canada’s science is helping to improve the quality of life of Canadians.
To learn more on this topic, please visit our website below.
Thank you and see you next time.
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