Canada Maritime Conference: Northwest Passage Hailed As Potential Trade Corridor.(Conference notes)

BYLINE: By Alan Daniels

Canada''s Northwest Passage will become an international waterway for commercial shipping that may one day rival the Panama Canal, delegates to the second annual Canada Maritime Conference were told by an environmental lawyer.

Joseph Spears, who heads Horseshoe Bay Marine Group, said environmental protection of the waterway should be an international responsibility. But he cautioned that commercial interests, particularly resource development, likely will push the issue of sovereignty into the background.

The fabled passage - the focus of a long-standing sovereignty debate between Canada and the U.S. - cuts about 4,000 nautical miles off a voyage from northern Europe to Asia. Currently, there is no commercial shipping on the route, although it is used by research vessels and small cruise ships.

"It''s clear that shipping is the catalyst for change and how we view the Arctic Ocean is being driven by shipping," Mr. Spears said.

Horseshoe Bay Marine Group, which Mr. Spears founded in 2000, provides a variety of services in marine policy development, crisis management, marine security and pollution countermeasures.

In 1985, Mr. Spears produced a report on Arctic shipping and marine insurance for Transport Canada, and he has transited the Northwest Passage.