The United Nations is on the verge of passing a new set of maritime laws for the Arctic, ahead of a projected increase in shipping traffic across the North Pole.

The new laws are called the Polar Code, and they come from the U.N.’s International Maritime Organization. This week in London, the IMO will vote on half of the new policy. It includes protections for Arctic marine mammals.

Kevin Harun works with Pacific Environment, an NGO that gets to consult on laws like this. He says he’ll be the only one speaking for Alaska and Native interests -- like subsistence -- at the IMO this week.

"I think that most countries had no concept that this is something that takes place," Harun says, "that a large population in the Arctic depends heavily – a heavy percentage of their food intake and protein comes out of Arctic marine waters, which are relatively pristine."

Harun wants the Polar Code to require vessels to avoid hotspots of marine mammals in places like the Bering Strait. He argues there’s enough data out there to help them do it. But industry groups say that’s not the case.

Whether or not the Arctic safety rules get approved this week, the IMO will still have to vote on environmental policies next spring. That’ll include rules for dumping in Arctic waters. Harun hopes some Native people from Alaska and Russia will be able to attend the meeting.

But even if the Polar Code passes as-is, he says it’ll still have a big hole:

"And that is, they’re not dealing with probably the biggest issue around, and that’s a heavy fuel oil spill," Harun says.

That’s the top risk posed by new ship traffic in the region, according to the Arctic Council. But it won’t be addressed this week – and Harun says it can take years to pass new protections, and even longer to implement them. That’s with a shipping boom already in the forecast, as melting ice opens up new routes across the pole.