The edge of the ice floe along Davis Strait and southern Baffin Island has moved closer to shore this year, Environment Canada says.

Normally the ice floe edge is 400 to 500 kilometres offshore but this winter it's about half that distance, says Lionel Hache who is with the department's Canadian Ice Service.

"Specifically over the Davis Strait area, the ice edge is much … closer to the shore, to the Baffin Island shore, than it is normally," Hache told CBC News.

"I would say, off Frobisher Bay, the ice edge is maybe a couple of hundred kilometres offshore but normally it is much more further offshore than that."

The ice formed a couple of weeks later than usual in Baffin Bay and nearly a month later in Hudson Bay, he said.

This means it is thinner and expected to melt earlier than in past years unless there is a severe cold spell, he said.

The ice in Hudson Bay usually melts in mid-August but in the last few years all the ice has vanished by mid-July.

Hunters in Pangnirtung say it's the worst year ever in Cumberland Sound, off Davis Strait.

Peterloosie Qarpik, chair of the Pangnirtung Hunters and Trappers Organization, says the ice is not safe for travel — hunters are seeing young seals falling into the water because the ice is so thin.

However, the ice conditions are a boon for companies fishing off south Baffin Island because they can access areas usually only open in late summer and fall.