While the rest of the world nervously eyes the impact of global warming, the calving of Greenland’s glaciers has breathed new life into the remote coastal villages of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Once a hub of cod fishing, the Canadian province now hosts large groups of amateur photographers and tourists hoping to capture ice melt on film.
The villagers keep track of the icebergs on an interactive satellite tracking map put online by the provincial government and last year it was predicted that $433million was spent by 500,000 visitors to the area.
Some locals are even marketing ‘iceberg water’ as the purest on Earth – and selling it as a high-end luxury item. The melt is also used in vodka, beer and cosmetics.
Although Newfoundland used to be a center for cod fishing, it now makes money from tourists flocking to see icebergs up close. Pictured is the boat of Captain Edward Kean, pictured center, dwarfed by an iceberg in Bonavista Bay
The tourism boom has helped offset the decline in Newfoundland’s traditional fishing industry, which is in crisis because of overfishing at the end of the last century. Pictured is an iceberg floating in Bonavista Bay
Last year it was predicted that $433million was spent by 500,000 visitors to the area who wanted to see icebergs. Pictured is one former huge glacier which has collapsed into the sea near homes in King’s Point, Newfoundland, Canada
Each fragment of ice broken off by former fishermen can weigh a ton or two and has to be broken down into smaller pieces before it is sold on. Pictured is an iceberg floating at the seashore of King’s Point, Newfoundland
Captain Edward Kean, 60, has hauled in icebergs for more than 20 years. Every morning at dawn he and his crew members set out to hunt the massive glaciers which can be broken into smaller pieces and melted
Former fisherman Barry Strickland, 58, who now takes tourists in his small boat around King’s Point in the north of the province said ‘it keeps getting better every year.’
He said: ‘We’ve got 135, 140 tour buses with older people coming into the town every season so it’s great for the economy.’
For the past four years, Mr Strickland has taken hundreds of visitors to bear witness to the death of these ice giants, which can measure dozens of meters in height and weigh hundreds of thousands of tons.
Winds and ocean currents bring the icebergs from northwest Greenland, thousands of miles away, to Canada’s shores. In a matter of weeks, ice frozen for thousands of years can quickly melt into the ocean.
Mr Strickland’s boat excursions are often fully booked during the high season from May to July, with tourists coming from all around the world to King’s Point, a village of just 600 inhabitants.
Devon Chaulk, 28, who has lived in small town Elliston which has 300 inhabitants all of his life, said: ‘There’s not much in these small outport towns anymore to keep people around, so tourism is a big part of our economy.
Once the ice has moved to Canada’s waters it can melt in a matter of weeks. Pictured are tourists taking pictures at an iceberg close to the seashore of King’s Point, Newfoundland
The villagers keep track of the icebergs, which come close to their homes, on an interactive satellite tracking map online. This helps them plan when and where to take tourists hoping to spot one of the giant ice formations up close
Locals in the villages of Newfoundland, pictured is King’s Point, said since the icebergs started to float to their home tourism has improved. Last year it was predicted that 500,000 visitors came to the area
Captain Edward Kean, pictured left, crushes pieces of an iceberg after shooting at the large formation in the sea to break them off, while Phil Kennedy, pictured right, cleans the salt water off
Winds and ocean currents bring icebergs from northwest Greenland, thousands of miles away, to Canada’s shores. Pictured are two men standing close to a glacier in the town of King’s Point, Newfoundland
‘I’ve lived here my entire life, and the increase in tourism around here in the past 10 to 15 years has been incredible. It’s not surprising to have thousands of people here over the next couple of months,’
Last year 500,000 tourists visited Newfoundland and Labrador, a number roughly equivalent to the province’s total population. Those visitors spent nearly US $433 million (Can $570 million), according to government figures.
The tourism boom has helped offset the decline in the region’s traditional fishing industry, which is in crisis because of overfishing at the end of the last century.
Some are even marketing ‘iceberg water’ as the purest on Earth – and selling it as a high-end luxury item. The melt is also used in vodka, beer and cosmetics.
But beneath the shiny surface of economic success is the dark truth that the area is in part profiting from global warming in the Arctic, and that the industry is precarious at best.
In the village of Twillingate, employees at the Auk Island Winery – which makes its product from iceberg water and locally picked wild berries – have already seen that business can be unpredictable.
Former fisherman Barry Strickland, pictured on his boat which has stopped close to an iceberg, provides guided trips to ‘135, 140 tour buses’ every season and said that his business ‘keeps getting better every year’
Once a piece of ice is broken off the iceberg crew members, pictured Blair Baker and Taylor Lindsorn, have to collect the large chunk from the sea and bring it back onto the boat to be made even smaller
The chunks are then broken into smaller pieces, pictured is Taylor Lindsorn hacking the ice, and put into 265-gallon container to melt over the coming days before the water is sold as a luxury product
Some locals such as Captain Edward Kean, pictured on his boat in Bonavista Bay, have made a living out of the icebergs. Mr Kean and his crew will sail for miles to find an iceberg they can get a chunk from that can be sold for making ‘ice water’
‘We see the difference in the number of tourists from year to year, depending on the amount of icebergs in the area. This year was a good year. Last year, we had almost none,’ said Elizabeth Gleason.
‘Harvesting’ pieces of ice from icebergs to be sold to companies who use their water is hard work and fisherman Edward Kean, 60, has hauled in icebergs for more than 20 years.
Every morning at dawn, Mr Kean sails out with three other crew members to hunt what has become his own personal white gold.
For one job, which he first picked up using a satellite map, Mr Kean has to sail about 24 kilometers (15 miles). After arriving at the floating ice in Bonavista Bay he shoots a rifle, hoping a chunk will break off.
Mr Kean said: ‘Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.’
The captain explained how once chunks are floating off the coast of Newfoundland, it is a real race against the clock to collect them – especially in the summer.
Some locals are marketing ‘iceberg water’ as the purest on Earth – and selling it as a high-end luxury item. A whale is pictured swimming in front of an iceberg at the seashore of King’s Point, Newfoundland, Canada
The Arctic is warming three times faster than the rest of the world. In mid-July, record temperatures were recorded near the North Pole and recently icebergs, one pictured very close to King’s Point, have drifted further and further south
Tourists, two pictured in King’s Point, who have visited Newfoundland to get a close up look at the huge icebergs have acknowledged that although ‘they make you wonder, it’s a little scary’ to see the effects of global warming so clearly
Canada set to create a protected marine area in the Arctic to help threatened species such as narwhales
Canada will create a protected marine area in the country’s Arctic region, where climate change is taking effect three times faster than global average.
Glacial melting and maritime traffic are threatening species off the coast of Baffin Island, in Canada’s northeastern Arctic archipelago.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: ‘Populations of belugas, narwhals, walruses, seals, polar bears and thousands of other species who depend on year-round sea ice to survive are now migrating, dwindling, or in some cases, disappearing.’
The prime minister, who is seeking reelection in three months, has made environmental protection and reconciliation with indigenous populations two main priorities.
President Justin Trudeau, middle, and president of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association PJ Akeeagok, left, spoke with Inuit elder Qaapik Attagutsiak, 99, right, during a trip to Arctic Bay, Nunavut on Thursday
‘For Inuit who have relied on hunting and harvesting to feed their families, climate change imperils their livelihoods and their way of life,’ he said.
According to Trudeau, who visited Iqaluit, in the eastern territory of Nunavutthe on Thursday, the protected region would help the Canadian government surpass its goal to protect 10 percent of marine and coastal regions by 2020.
The liberal leader also pointed out his government had recently invested in modernizing the Coast Guard, launching two Arctic patrol vessels to increase protection for national interests in the region.
‘Our government is committed to enforcing Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic in partnership with the people who have lived here for (millennia),’ Trudeau said.
The Arctic region is highly coveted by multiple global powers for its resources and access to navigation in the far north, made easier by melting glaciers.
‘In Newfoundland, it’s like a fallen leaf. They’re going to die in a couple of weeks and be gone back to nature anyway,’ he said.
‘So we’re not here hurting the environment, we’re not taking nothing away – we’re just utilizing the purest water we can get.’
Once ice falls two members of his crew set out on a motorboat to find blocks of ice that may be bobbing next to it.
Armed with a pole and net, they laboriously wrap up the precious fragments, each one weighing a ton or two, and fasten them to a hook at the end of a crane on the fishing boat’s deck, which winches them aboard.
Kean then hacks the blocks up with an ax and puts the pieces into 1,000-liter (265-gallon) containers to melt over the coming days.
In the high season, from May to July, the crew can gather 800,000 liters of water, which they then sell to local merchants for a dollar a liter.
In the high season, from May to July, the crews who spend their days breaking off pieces of ice can gather 800,000 liters of water, which they then sell to local merchants for a dollar a liter. Pictured are icebergs near the seashore of King’s Point
Company Dyna Pro, who sell pure ‘ice water’ in glass bottles for $12 (Can$16) each said they target wealthy clients and have recently ‘picked up clients from the Middle East’. Pictured is an iceberg near the seashore of King’s Point
The icebergs are huge in comparison to the fishing boats, such as Captain Edward Kean’s that is seen passing in this aerial shot, which head out to break parts from them
French tourist Laurent Lucazeau, 34, said: ‘It is a concrete image of global warming to see icebergs making it to these places where the water is warm.’ Pictured is a huge glacier near Bonavista in Newfoundland
Dyna Pro, one of Kean’s clients, sells the water in glass bottles for $12 (Can$16) each. They are targeting a wealthy clientele and have hopes to expand their business abroad.
Company manager Kerry Chaulk said: ‘We’re probably a lot bigger today than we ever were with iceberg water shipping overseas – Europe, Singapore, Dubai.
‘We just picked up clients from the Middle East with our glass bottles.’
The Arctic is warming three times faster than the rest of the world. In mid-July, record temperatures were recorded near the North Pole.
In recent years, the icebergs have drifted further and further south, posing a threat to shipping on this busy route between Europe and North America.
For now, tourists are enjoying the view and the experience while they can.
Melissa Axtman, an American traveler, said: ‘The prevalence of icebergs has good things and bad things about it,’
While Laurent Lucazeau, a 34-year-old French tourist, said: ‘It is a concrete image of global warming to see icebergs making it to these places where the water is warm.
‘There’s something mysterious and impressive about it, but knowing too that they are not supposed to be here makes you wonder, and it’s a little scary.’