More than a quarter of Canadian Coast Guard staff are scheduled to retire in the next five years, triggering staff shortages just as the country looks to increase its fleet sizes, especially in the Arctic, officials say.

About 70 per cent of the coast guard's 4,500 employees are between 40 and 59 years old, with the average age being 45.

"It is predicted that the worldwide shortage of trained mariners will increase, so we're very much aware that we need to be making this a priority," Michael Gardiner, an assistant commissioner with the Canadian Coast Guard, told CBC News last week.

The Coast Guard is actively looking for solutions, including revitalizing its college in Sydney, N.S.

The school is adding staff, increasing budget and opening up more spaces for students. It's also holding more open houses, and getting information out to potential students through Facebook.

Suzanne Drouin, the college's executive director, said they are looking to recruit all types of future officers, especially those with skills in engineering and navigation.

"There's a need in every area," she said Monday.

Senate calls for more icebreakers

As the coast guard grapples with shortage, a Senate committee released a report Monday calling for the coast guard to be equipped with several heavy icebreakers to help safeguard the country's interest in the slowly opening Arctic seas.

"We expect a lot more traffic is going to happen up there," New Brunswick Liberal Senator Fernand Robichaud said when the report was released.

"Right now, I don't think we have the capacity. The government should have a long-term program of shipbuilding icebreakers."

The report, released by the Senate's standing committee on fisheries and oceans, said the Conservative government's existing plan to replace one coast guard vessel with a new $720-million "polar class" icebreaker doesn't go far enough. The coast guard needs more than one of these vessels, Robichaud said.

The Conservatives plan for one vessel was outlined in their 2008 budget. In the 2007 budget, they also discussed plans to expand the coast guard, setting aside $324 million for four new patrol ships and two offshore fishery science ships, all which will be in service by 2009 or 2010.

The Senate report also calls for changes to the coast guard's monitoring program in the Arctic. While all foreign and domestic vessels in the Arctic are currently encouraged to report to the coast guard, the Senate would like to see that program made mandatory, as it is in Canada's Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

"None of that exists in the Arctic. The only thing we've got is RADARSAT [ an Earth observation satellite] and whoever happens to be up there at the moment," said Newfoundland and Labrador Sen. William Rompkey, who chaired the committee.

"We need something that duplicates our facilities on the East Coast and the West Coast — we need those duplicated in the Arctic."

With files from the Canadian Press