Eyes and Ears for the Arctic. Extreme weather, vast distances and stretches of darkness have long made it difficult to protect Arctic territories, and the problem has grown as ice fields recede and open swaths of ocean year-round. Now new tools are helping nations head off the evolving risks, allowing better communication and monitoring at the northern tip of the Earth. Raytheon's satellite sensors and radars are providing safer navigation for Arctic ships, more efficient communication for U.S. military operations in the region and more accurate low-light detection of Arctic ice movements and weather conditions. The Hill   

Maritime Group Approves Aleutian Shipping 'Buffer Zones.' The International Maritime Organization's Marine Safety Committee is in the middle of its 95th session in London this week. Included on the committee's agenda is the adoption of five recommended "areas to be avoided" in the Aleutian Chain. The shipping buffer zones come in anticipation of increased mariner shipping traffic in the region. The new zones apply to ships 400 gross tons and heavier - the kind of ships that make trans-oceanic voyages through the Bering Sea and the North Pacific. Leslie Pearson is a project manager for the Aleutian Islands risk Assessment and a management consultant. She said the zones are meant to dampen environmental damage in the event of an accident or spill. Alaska Public Radio

Arctic Health Conference Offers New Directions for Future Research. The circumpolar world is linked as much by its common health challenges as by its Arctic geography. That's what struck Nunavut Health Minister Paul Okalik as he prepared to head back from Finland to Canada June 12 at the end of the International Congress on Circumpolar Health. "I learned that we're not alone with our health problems," said Okalik, who attended a variety of sessions on subjects like housing, food security and suicide during his week at the conference, which he called "important to attend." Nunatsiaq Online

NOAA Investigates Steller Sea Lion Deaths Near Cordova. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is investigating the deaths of several Steller sea lions southwest of Cordova. Julie Speegle, spokesperson for NOAA Fisheries, Alaska region, says 15 dead sea lions were discovered in the area on June 1. "Three to five of them had wounds that our biologists could definitely say were human-caused wounds," Speegle said. "So that indicates that these Steller sea lions had been deliberately killed." Alaska Public Radio

Scientific Approach to Arctic Ice. Russian Arctic holds tremendous hydrocarbon reserves but they have to be discovered. Scientific research of Arctic climate and nature is also required to arrange transit along the Northern Sea Route which is impossible without powerful icebreakers or new research expedition ships able to operate amid insufficient coast infrastructure. Russia has already developed a new generation design of such a vessel. There are lots of points in the Arctic that have no berths or transshipment facilities. Specifically, they are polar stations of Roshydromet (Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring Agency of Russia), navigation points (light stations and stations of the Hydrographic Enterprise), frontier posts and small settlements with the 'remains' of berthing facilities. Port News

Aglukkaq Hopes to Head Off Third US Up-List Bid for Polar Bear. Saying it's time for Canada and Inuit living in Canada to educate the Americans, Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq spent three days last week in West Virginia at a conference aimed at informing them about Canada's polar bear management systems to head off future conflicts with them over wildlife conservation... They included Nunavut Environment Minister Johnny Mike and representatives from Inuit land claim bodies across the Canadian Arctic that are involved in polar bear management. "It isn't about picking science or traditional knowledge, it's about picking both and using both to make good management plans for polar bears, so it's very important to bring everyone together to talk about what we are doing," Aglukkaq said in an interview. Nunatsiaq Online

Inuit Circumpolar Council-Alaska Set to Release Food Security Report. Alaska's branch of the Inuit Circumpolar Council is building a report to assess and address food security, and insecurity, from a traditional perspective. "Food Security" has become a buzzword, and Carolina Behe, who presented the project Tuesday at Kawerak's Regional Conference in Nome, says the term now has over 800 definitions. But the Inuit people of Alaska see the Arctic holistically - the health of culture directly connects to the health of ecosystems. The goal of the project is to define food security and insecurity, identify what drives it, and create a framework for how to address it - all while keeping the Inuit perspective central. KTOO

Traditional Knowledge Formally Recognized by Arctic Council. Traditional Knowledge has been formally recognized by the Arctic Council as important to understanding the Arctic in numerous Ministerial Declarations, including the 1996 Ottawa Declaration on the establishment of the Arctic Council.  The Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples Secretariat (IPS), in partnership with Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (ANNDC), led two workshops in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 with the objective of developing recommendations for consistent and practical use of traditional knowledge in the work of the Arctic Council. At these workshops, IPS facilitated discussions and debate amongst experts nominated by the six Indigenous Peoples Organizations being Permanent Participants (PP) to the Arctic Council, who collectively developed a set of 13 fundamental principles on Traditional Knowledge for the use in the Arctic Council. The principles are known as the" Ottawa Traditional Knowledge Principles" and can be found here.

Archaeologists Say Climate Change Destroys Arctic Artifacts. Archeologists say climate change is destroying the historical record of the Arctic people. KUAC reports that a University of Alaska Fairbanks archaeology professor and museum curator John Reuther says the museum has been receiving artifacts that are more deteriorated than those unearthed decades ago, something he attributes to the change climate. Reuther curates the collection at the university's Museum of the North, where most of the artifacts excavated in Alaska are preserved in a climate-controlled repository. KTVA