WASHINGTON — Above the Arctic Circle in Canada near Greenland, five Inuit villages have won a court order that blocks a German icebreaker from conducting seismic tests of an underwater region that abounds with marine life — and possibly with oil, gas and minerals.
For the villagers who live in this mostly treeless region of fjords, icebergs and polar bears, the case was a victory that forces the national and territorial governments to consult them over the use of their homeland. The decision comes as Canada, Alaska and other Arctic regions are deciding whether to allow oil and gas development in Arctic waters that are covered by ice for nine or more months each year.
. . .
Most of the world’s narwhals and some 40 percent of its beluga whales travel through the sound and feed and give birth in its waters. Rare bowhead whales are there, too, along with many walruses and seals. Millions of birds of many species nest nearby in great concentrations, including ivory gulls, phalaropes and snow geese.
Tourists visit to see the birds, whales, polar bears and icebergs, ride dog sleds over the ice or hunt for musk ox and polar bears.
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On Aug. 8, however, the Nunavut Court of Justice blocked the seismic mapping in Lancaster Sound a day before the icebreaker Polarstern was scheduled to begin its work.
Justice Susan Cooper noted that Inuit representatives said the seismic testing would harm and drive off the marine mammals they hunted. The Canadian government argued that the testing would have little or no impact. The judge weighed the evidence and ruled that the government’s assurances weren’t so clear-cut.
“If the testing proceeds as planned and marine mammals are impacted as Inuit say they will be, the harm to Inuit in the affected communities will be significant and irreversible,” she wrote in the ruling. “The loss extends not just to the loss of a food source, but to a loss of culture. No amount of money can compensate for such a loss.”
more. . .
http://sentinelsource.com/articles/2010/08/23/features/environment/free/id_410248.txtGovernments and oil companies firmly declare that sonar testing has no effect on mammals which rely solely on their sonar abilities. Yeah right.
Oil companies say they have found no proof that sonar testing problems on sonar mammals exist. Oil companies also say that the millions of barrels of oil they "spilled" in the Gulf doesn't exist anymore either.
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