At one point, the Northwest Passage was not even spoken about, because it was closed most of the time, so as it opened up, it created opportunities and people thought, “Here's a great plan: let's race.” A lot of adventurers decided it was a cool idea to be there. Is it increasing? Yes, because it's more open. For a few years, it was more open than it had been. Now it varies from year to year. It's very unpredictable.
On February 23rd, 2016. See this statement in context.