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Today's Congressional Action: 
The House and Senate are not in session.
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 Sami Villages Underreport Moose-Hunt Kills in Sweden. Local officials with Norrbotten County have called out five of the area's largest Sami villages for failing to report hundreds of killed moose -- or elk, as they are known in Sweden -- during last year's hunt. In total, the five villages failed to report 586 slain moose to the county government. That is according to Swedish Radio's local channel there that spoke with the head of each village. Roland Saitzkoff, who heads Norrbotten's hunting and wildlife department, says he takes the underreporting seriously and says the villages have not reported anything despite the county sending out multiple reminders. Alaska Dispatch News
Shipping Losses in Arctic Waters Increase in 2014: Review. Shipping losses continued their long-term downward trend with 75 reported worldwide in 2014, making it the safest year in shipping for 10 years, according to Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE's recently released Safety and Shipping Review 2015, which analyzes reported shipping losses of over 100 gross tons. But here's a blip. That downward trend didn't hold true in the Arctic: there were 55 shipping casualties in Arctic Circle waters in 2014, the review said. Nunatsiaq Online
Greenland Town Burdened by Rare Genetic Disease. Doctors in the town of Uummannaq, located on an island in western Greenland, are calling on health officials to act to prevent the further spread of a rare genetic illness that may affect as many as one in 10 of the town's residents. Cadasil syndrome, a hereditary genetic disorder causing dementia, psychiatric disturbances, migraines and recurrent strokes, has been identified in two extended families living in Uummannaq. Arctic Journal
Canadian Province of Quebec Announces Plan for Northern Development. The Canadian province of Quebec announced an ambitious plan to develop its northern region on Wednesday, putting the Arctic back in the province's political spotlight. Details of the project, titled Plan Nord, were unveiled in Montreal by Quebec premier Philippe Couillard and several cabinet ministers. "Its goal is to promote the natural resources, energy, culture and tourism in Quebec above the 49th parallel," Couillard said. "We want to create jobs and prosperity for northern communities and Quebecers while respecting both the people of the North and the environment." Alaska Dispatch News
DNA Traces Migration of BC Alpine Species. For many years, the idea that an enormous ice sheet covered all of B.C. during the last ice age, ending 15,000 years ago, has been widely accepted, but recent advances in DNA sequencing of animals and plants are challenging this idea. Some species may have persisted in previously unsuspected locations in northern B.C. The technique uses the same approach that traces the migration of humans. Victoria News
 Minister Aglukkaq Highlights Canada's Accomplishments As Chair of the Arctic Council. The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of the Environment, Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency and Minister for the Arctic Council, announced today that she will meet with communities in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories between April 9 and 15, 2015, to discuss the Arctic Council and to highlight Canada's achievements as council chair. Canada has put Northerners at the forefront of the Arctic Council's agenda. Under Canada's chairmanship, the council has taken action to improve the lives of Northerners by, among other things, enhancing sustainable economic development, promoting mental wellness, supporting Indigenous languages and ensuring that the traditional knowledge of Arctic communities is more consistently included in the work of the council. Arctic Journal
With New Purchase, Shell May Be Less Keen on Arctic. Royal Dutch Shell announced this week a plan to purchase a major British LNG company, and statements by top executives suggest Shell may now be less committed to its future in Alaska's offshore Arctic. Shell CEO Ben Van Beurden said at a conference yesterday the combined company would sell off assets over the next three years to raise $30 billion and to focus more on its core business. Alaska Public Radio
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Legislative Action
No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday.
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Future Events
Leadership, Diplomacy and Science: Resolving the Arctic Paradox" April 13-14, 2015, (Medford, MA, USA). The 4th annual Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy International Inquiry on the Warming Arctic will convene high-level decision makers from diplomatic and security circles, cutting-edge energy and science researchers, and social, environmental and business stakeholders to investigate solutions to the Arctic Paradox and promote a sustainable future for Arctic inhabitants within a "High North, Low Tension" policy framework. Special appearance: the North American debut of the Arctic Circle Assembly's panel "Rising Stars: Young Arctic Energy Researchers". Confirmed speakers include H.E. President Grimsson, Dr. John P. Holdren, Prof. Bruce Forbes and Dr. Fiamma Straneo.
Arctic States Symposium, April 17-19, 2015 (Charlottesville, VA, USA).
ARCTIC STATES, a three-day symposium at the University of Virginia School of Architecture, brings together an international consortium of leading designers and colleagues from allied disciplines to posit the role of design in the rapidly transforming region, and generate critical discussions by sharing recent work that will trace, critique and speculate on its past, present, and future.
Arctic Science Summit Week, April 23-30, 2015 (Toyama, Japan). The Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) is the annual gathering of the international organizations engaged in supporting and facilitating Arctic research. The purpose of the summit is to provide opportunities for coordination, collaboration and cooperation in all areas of Arctic science. The summit attracts scientists, students, policy makers and other professionals from all over the world.
The Polar Geography and Cryosphere, April 21-25, 2015 (Chicago, IL, USA). The Polar Geography and Cryosphere Specialty Groups of the Association of American Geographers will host its annual meeting in Chicago to consider: current topics in human-environment interactions; current topics in politics, resource geographies, and extractive industries; current topics in Antarctic research; advances in cryosphere research; high latitude environments in a changing climate; an mountain ice and snow.
The House of Sweden Conference, May 19-20, 2015 (Washington, DC, USA). A two day conference focusing on changes, adaptations and opportunities for a changing Arctic. The conference will be divided into separate, but intertwined thematic segments - policy, science, climate change and green technologies. The conference is organized by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, DC and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and is aimed at Arctic oriented policy-makers, researchers, business representatives and NGO's in the lead-up to the U.S. chairmanship of the Arctic Council.
The European Union and Arctic (2015 EU-Arctic Conference), May 29, 2015 (Dundee, UK). The School of Law, University of Dundee, UK and the K. G. Jebsen Centre for the Law of the Sea, University of Tromsų, Norway are pleased to announce the registration open for "The European Union and the Arctic" (2015 EU-Arctic Conference). This conference will bring together academics and practitioners from relevant disciplines such as international law, international relations, political science and marine biology, NGOs, representatives from EU institutions and international organizations to discuss the EU's potential contribution to enhance Arctic governance. A roadmap for increasing the effectiveness of the EU's action in the Arctic will be drawn at the end of the conference.
7th International Conference on Arctic Margins, June 2-5, 2015 (Trondheim, Norway). The next meeting, the 7th International Conference on Arctic Margins (ICAM VII), previously announced to be arranged in St. Petersburg, will be held in Norway. ICAM VII is hosted by the Geological Survey of Norway. The International Conference on Arctic Margins (ICAM) was founded by the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, formerly the Minerals Management Service, in 1991 with the underlying two-point theme of 1) Arctic understanding, 2) international cooperation in Arctic research. To these ends, ICAM has provided a successful forum for the exchange of information, collaboration in research, and presentation of results. ICAM is organized, hosted, and conducted by scientists for scientists which makes it a unique forum.
52nd Annual Conference of the Animal Behavior Society, June 10-14, 2015 (Anchorage, Alaska, USA). The Animal Behavior Society was founded in 1964 to promote the study of animal behavior in the broadest sense, including studies using descriptive and experimental methods under natural and controlled conditions. Current members' research activities span the invertebrates and vertebrates, both in the field and in the laboratory, and include experimental psychology, behavioral ecology, neuroscience, zoology, biology, applied ethology, and human ethology as well as many other specialized areas.
2015 ESSAS Annual Science Meeting, June 15-17, 2015 (Seattle, WA, USA). This symposium, to be held at the University of Washington, is intended for interdisciplinary scholars who will be prepared to discuss their research in the sub-arctic North Atlantic, sub-arctic North Pacific, and the Arctic Ocean that bears on the issue of how changes in sea ice are likely to affect these marine ecosystems. The symposium will also consider the people who depend upon these ecosystems and how they may be able to cope with the changes in the ecosystem goods and services that are coming. These goods and services include the availability of transportation corridors, the availability of subsistence foods, and the opportunity for commercial fishing. To put the present day in a longer perspective, the symposium will include a session on the paleo-ecology of people in sub-arctic and arctic regions that were forced to adjust to changing sea-ice conditions in the past.
6th Symposium on the Impacts of an Ice-Diminishing Arctic on Naval and Maritime Operations, July 14-16, 2015 (Washington, DC, USA). Program in development...check back soon. To see the programs from prior symposia, click here.
Polar Law Symposium (8th) will be held in Alaska ( Sept. 23-24, UAF; Sept. 25-26, UAA). It's sponsored by UAF, UAA (and ISER), UAA Justice Center, UW Law School. Abstracts due 3/15/15. This year's conference theme is, "The Science, Scholarship, and Practice of Polar Law: Strengthening Arctic Peoples and Places."
2015 Arctic Energy Summit, September 28-30, 2015 (Fairbanks, Alaska, USA).The Institute of the North's 2015 Arctic Energy Summit builds on our legacy efforts to address energy as a fundamental element of the sustainable development of the Arctic as a lasting frontier.Central to this concept is a focus on providing pathways for affordable energy development in the Arctic and for Arctic communities.
The Polar Oceans and Global Climate Change, November 3-6, 2015 (La Jolla, California USA.) The American Polar Society will host this Symposium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. A flyer with a partial list of presenters is available on the Society's website (americanpolar.org) and from the Society's Membership Chairman by email.
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