Congress should fund cutters

Congress needs to get on with funding for the next five icebreaking cutters promised to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Guard has long had only one icebreaking cutter, which is based in Nome, and the rest seem to be on a “when we get around to it” status. The lack of the cutters apparently played a key role in the recent standoff between the Russian Navy and American commercial fishing vessels in the Bering Sea.

The incident, in which the Russians drove American fishermen out of United States waters, occurred in August. It never should have happened and the Coast Guard is shouldering the blame because it failed to warn the fishermen that Russian naval vessels were operating in the area.

The Coast Guard’s position is admirable and some blame is undoubtedly due the agency, but it’s difficult to imagine such an incident taking place if its Arctic deployment were not so meager. One cutter in such a large area is not nearly enough. And though the incident occurred in August, any cutter assigned to the waters of northern Alaska would need to be an icebreaker in order to conduct its mission on a year-round basis.

Russia’s hyperactive response to the fishermen’s presence near its fleet was unsurprising. Having American commercial fishing vessels sharing space with the Russian Navy was an invitation to trouble. And the Russians took dramatic umbrage, literally driving the Americans out of the area

Fortunately the American skippers took the sensible approach of beating it south to more hospitable waters. One of the Americans, the fishing vessel Northern Jaeger, was harassed for five hours on the fishing ground and that was followed by five hours of southward sailing.

Two of the Americans were apparently threatened with missile attacks. One Russian pilot verbally harassed the Americans for two hours, haranguing them in broken English.

Admiral Charles Ray, second-in-command of the Coast Guard, told a U.S. Senate panel that the Coast Guard is partly to blame for the incident because it knew about the Russian Navy operating in the area but failed to notify the American fishermen.

And that does seem to be a grievous error since the Americans should have been warned and waved away from the area. “We own some of this,” Ray said.

He said the Coast Guard now holds regular meetings with the Bering Sea fishing industry to avoid dropping the ball on communications again.

Senator Dan Sullivan says the Arctic is the next major arena of competition between the United States and Russia. The Russians have a major head-start in developing infrastructure in the region. We Americans need to get our act together.

“Without further investment in our polar capabilities, our adversaries’ influence will grow,” Sullivan said.

Congress has already funded some major improvements like a deepwater port at Nome, but the Arctic and Subarctic region needs much more.

Getting on with the next five icebreaking Coast Guard cutters would be a good start.

Tom Brennan is an Anchorage columnist and author of six books. He was a reporter/columnist for The Anchorage Times and an editor and columnist at The Voice of The Times.