(Updates with details from kayak protest)
By Bryan Cohen and Victoria Cavaliere
SEATTLE, May 16 (Reuters) - Hundreds of activists in kayaksand small boats fanned out on a Seattle bay on Saturday toprotest plans by Royal Dutch Shell to resume oilexploration in the Arctic and keep two of its drilling rigsstored in the city's port.
Environmental groups have vowed to disrupt the Anglo-Dutchoil company's efforts to use the Seattle as a home base as itoutfits the rigs to return to the Chukchi Sea off Alaska, sayingdrilling in the remote Arctic waters could lead to an ecologicalcatastrophe.
Demonstrators have planned days of protests, both on landand in Elliott Bay, home to the Port of Seattle, where the firstof the two rigs docked on Thursday.
Kayakers on Saturday paddled around the rig yelling "ShellNo." Others unfurled a large banner that read "Climate Justice."
Environmental groups contend harsh and shifting weatherconditions make it impossible to drill in the Arctic, a regionwith a fragile environment that helps regulate the globalclimate because of its vast layers of sea ice.
Allison Warden, 42, said she traveled from Alaska torepresent her native Inupiaq tribe, which makes its home in theArctic. She said whales central to the tribe's culture areparticularly vulnerable to oil spills.
"I don't know what our culture would be without whaling.It's at the center of everything we do," she said. "It's adifferent relationship than just going to the grocery store. Thewhale feeds the entire community," she said.
Opponents of the rigs docking in Seattle, a city known forits environmental causes, include Mayor Ed Murray and the CityCouncil.
Shell was bringing in the rigs and moving ahead as planneddespite the opposition and a ruling earlier this week by thecity's planning department that the port's agreement with thecompany was in violation of its city permit.
"The timeline now is just to make sure the rigs are ready togo," said Curtis Smith, a Shell spokesman.
The second rig is expected at the port in the coming days.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean EnergyManagement gave conditional approval to Shell's resumption offossil fuel exploration in the Arctic, which was suspended aftera mishap-filled 2012 season.
The decision was met with approval by some Alaska lawmakers,who said it would bring money and jobs to the state. (Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Eric Beech and Steve Orlofsky)
