The companies conducting oil exploration from a ship in this Arctic region are disrupting marine life with loud sounds known as seismic blasting. During the summer months, whales and fish are exposed to loud underwater explosions every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, non-stop. It’s enough to disorient these creatures and put their lives at risk, say experts.
The Sirens of the oil industry have brought their fatal chant to the Arctic.
A new independent scientific report commissioned by Greenpeace is now exposing the damages that seismic blasting can cause to marine life in the Arctic. Among the many potential negative impacts identified in the study are hearing loss, ice entrapment, avoidance and disruption of migratory routes, stranding, communication disruptions, increased levels of stress and disruption of the food chain.
‘It could decimate our way of life’
Still, seismic testing companies are moving ahead on behalf of a range of international oil companies to map the last deposits of oil and gas in the Arctic, the same fossil fuels the International Energy Agency has described as “unburnable” if humanity is serious about limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius.
This method of mapping oil and gas deposits under the seafloor could have serious impacts, and not just on Arctic wildlife. Inuit populations have been sustainably feeding on marine mammals for thousands of years, allowing them not only to provide their families with an affordable and excellent source of protein with a low carbon footprint, but also to preserve an essential part of their culture.
As Jerry Natanine, the mayor of the remote Inuit community of Clyde River in the Canadian Arctic has said, “The same seismic companies that are searching for oil in northeast Greenland right now could be blasting air cannons in Baffin Bay next summer. Inuit rely on healthy marine life for food and for our local economy. If the seismic companies start blasting in our waters, I’m worried it could decimate our way of life.”
And indeed, the seismic companies now threatening the marine mammals of east Greenland are the same that have applied to conduct seismic testing in the Canadian sector of the Baffin Bay, that is, in the waters around Clyde River and other small Inuit communities. But this year they had to give up their plans in Canada, after the community of Clyde River courageously challenged them and Canada’s National Energy Board in court.
It is hard to believe that while human civilization faces climate change — the biggest challenge of all time — and struggles to agree on a path that would keep us from falling off the cliff, oil companies are still putting profits before life and money before people. From Shell in Alaska to Gazprom in the Russian Arctic, oil greed is drilling, pumping or mapping oil underwater, blindingly pushing our world closer to the brink of a climate Armageddon.
Yet, there is hope.
Wake-up call
The scientific evidence points to the many destructive aspects of seismic blasting, and this should be the last wake-up call for our governments.
Millions of people around the world are now aware of this assault on the Arctic. Courageous activists are facing and protesting giant oil platforms everywhere they can. The protests against oil giants such as Shell are becoming creative, viral, spontaneous, and really owned by the very people who believe in a better future for the Arctic and for all.
This movement must become even bigger, so it becomes unstoppable. Together, we will sound stronger than the oil Sirens.
