The Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment working group of the Arctic Council has released the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment 2009 Report. This extensive and well-illustrated document, supported by Canada, Finland and the United States and recently approved by the Arctic Council, represents a four-year effort to consider and review all aspects of Arctic shipping. It includes extensive documentation of shipping activities from a baseline year (2004) and future projections in key areas such as environmental protection, marine infrastructure, human dimensions, and governance. It contains a series of very useful maps and charts. I like this quote: "less ice does not mean less danger". I highly recommend the report as a thorough summary of issues related to future commercial activities in the Arctic.