Oil well threatens belugas
The Green Party of Canada is calling on Prime Minister Harper to protect endangered beluga whales in the Gulf of St Lawrence by putting a moratorium in place on oil and gas development in this sensitive ecosystem. The Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board has approved preliminary work and seismic testing for a deep-water oil well east of the Magdalen Islands, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
“We have seen that this government is concerned about beluga whale protection with the announcement of the Tarium Niryutait marine protected area, and now concerned citizens on the east coast are saying, don’t forget about the belugas in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, they are at even greater risk than those in the Arctic,” said Green Leader Elizabeth May.
According to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans website, there used to be around ten thousand beluga whales in the St. Lawrence River system, a number that has now dropped to around a thousand. Industrial activity, environmental pollution, and collisions with commercial and recreational boats are all cited as contributing to the decline of the species.
“The beloved beluga whale is struggling with loss of quality habitat and a contaminated food supply. We have listed this species as protected under the Species at Risk Act and yet we would still consider allowing further degradation of their ecosystem – it is not acceptable,” said Mary Gorman of The Save our Seas and Shores Coalition. "Seismic blasting is known to irreparably damage whales' ability to migrate, communicate and survive. If the Prime Minister is sincere in protecting endangered whales, he will call for an immediate and permanent moratorium on seismic blasting in the Gulf of St. Lawrence."
“We need to realize that piecemeal regulation in Canada is not adequate,” said May. “Protecting a little bit here and there does not add up to a sufficient safeguard for a threatened species. What we need is a comprehensive plan that takes seriously the need for setting certain areas off limits to industrial development. In the context of the climate crisis, this sort of decision makes even more sense, both to reduce our carbon emissions and to ensure that species will have the resilience to adapt to changes in their ecosystems.”
Additional Comment Added:
"The Green Party is outraged by the duplicitous move in setting aside a portion of Arctic beluga habitat for oil and gas development. Seismic testing is very damaging to cetaceans, as it can cause permanent hearing loss, and loss of location ability. You cannot protect belugas in the same area in which you are developing oil and gas. We demanded that the Harper
government extend protection of beluga with a moratorium on oil and gas exploration and development in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Had we known that the government was violating the essence of declaring a Marine Protected
Area by excluding a zone to allow oil and gas in the Arctic, we would not have applauded what we believed to be a significant conservation achievement."
Elizabeth May, Leader of Green Party of Canada
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Contact:
Debra Eindiguer
Press Secretary
613-240-8921
media@greenparty.ca
