The Indigenous people of the Canadian Arctic, the Inuit, live on land under jurisdiction of the Canadian government and are forced to settle in small towns, like Clyde River. This community is suffering from one of the highest food insecurity rates in North America: 68% of the Inuit population does not have consistent access to food. Since mass agriculture is not possible in the Arctic, and prices in the few remaining grocery stores are inflated up to 400% during certain times of the year, communities are forced to rely on wildlife as their main food source.
Visual representation of seismic blasting, from http://bit.ly/2eetsQy
The residents of Clyde River are facing an even bigger threat to their food supply: seismic blasting. Seismic airguns blast extremely high pressure air deep under water to map the sea floor in search of oil and gas deposits. This causes disruptions to the marine ecosystem that ultimately threaten Clyde River’s food security.
Clyde River supporters protesting the National Energy Board approval of seismic testing in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait in July 2014. From http://bit.ly/1LonlGE
Seismic blasting impacts the Arctic ecosystem because marine mammals use sound in nearly every part of their lives. Communicating, mating, raising young, hunting prey and hiding from or fighting predators, for example, are all affected by seismic blasting. (For more information, see Whales of Baffin Bay).
This video from the National Resources Defense Council explains the implications of seismic blasting on marine ecosystems:
Over time a stressed ecosystem will decline in population size, and eventually Clyde River will not be able to hunt in the Canadian Arctic, drastically limiting their food supply.
The wold’s largest publicly owned oil and gas companies (BP, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, among others), collectively known as Big Oil, are currently fighting against Clyde River to begin a five-year seismic blasting plan in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait in the Canadian Arctic to search for oil. This plan is scheduled to begin in summer 2017 and will involve blasting every ten seconds, 24 hours a day, for most of each year. This will damage the marine ecosystem and have serious implications for Clyde River’s way of life.
Bowhead whales become silent when nearby sounds exceed 170 dB. From https://flic.kr/p/7vVJFi
Seismic blasting surveys 100 km deep into the sea floor to search for oil deposits, but at the expense of Arctic ecosystems: after seismic surveys in one study, catch rates of cod and haddock decreased 40-80% for thousands of miles. Additionally, some species cease communication when noise reaches above a certain threshold, which is much less than the excess 400 dB produced from seismic blasting.
Famous scientists, including David Suzuki, are also petitioning to stop seismic blasting. It is important that our nation works together to support communities like Clyde River who can’t protect the environment alone. Clyde River has a hearing on November 30th in the Supreme Court of Canada against Big Oil. Sign the petition to stop seismic blasting, save our marine wildlife, and support Inuit communities: https://www.savethearctic.org/en-CA/clyde-river/
Ashley
