News Release - March 16, 2006

NR-C&A-03-06E

SPRING ICEBREAKING OPERATIONS FROM WELLAND CANAL TO PRESCOTT

PRESCOTT - The Canadian Coast Guard wishes to inform people living in the areas between the Welland Canal and Prescott, or using those sectors along the connecting waterways between the two locations, that spring icebreaking operations will begin along the normal shipping route commencing the week of March 21st, 2006.

The icebreaker CCGS Griffon will be conducting its icebreaking operations in the area, and is scheduled to transit through ice covered sections of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River Main Channel from the Welland Canal to Prescott, Lake St. Francis and the Beauharnois Canal of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Owners of facilities on the ice should move them safely onshore or sufficiently away from the commercial channels. The Canadian Coast Guard strongly advises that pedestrians, fishers and snowmobilers leave the ice when they see the icebreaker in the immediate vicinity. Although all precautions are being taken, fractured ice may become hazardous and unstable, and may create a danger for anyone in the area.

The Canadian Coast Guard's icebreaking operations take place annually in the Great Lakes in order to facilitate maritime trade, to assist in the prevention of flooding due to ice jams, and to ensure the safety of vessel traffic along commercial shipping channels.

CCGS Griffon has a red hull with a transverse white band and a white funnel bearing a maple leaf.

- 30 -

For more information:
Theresa Nichols
Regional Communications Manager
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Central and Arctic Region
(519) 383-1804