Ice Clearing Activities
March 5, 2007
Beginning March 15, 2007, the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation’s tug ROBINSON BAY will begin ice-clearing activities in the vicinity of the Eisenhower and Snell Locks in preparation for the Seaway’s upcoming navigation season.
All ice fishermen, snowmobile and All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) operators are requested to refrain from using the river in the areas above, below and in between the two locks as icebreaking activities will cause an unstable ice cover.
The Montreal-Lake Ontario section of the St. Lawrence Seaway is scheduled to open at 8 a.m., March 21. The Seaway opened last year on March 23rd and, over the last 21 years, has opened in March 19 times.
The Seaway is coordinating closely with the Canadian Coast Guard on setting a date for icebreaking activity in the upper St. Lawrence River. There is a communications process in place that will provide notice to the public on both sides of the river once the date has been determined.
The U.S. and Canadian Seaway Corporations follow a process that carefully examines a variety of factors to determine the opening date. Opening dates are set only after careful consideration of several factors that include: current and projected ice and weather conditions, the winter infrastructure maintenance schedule, availability of ice breaking resources and industry demand for Seaway services.