High Arctic seismic research flap gets chilly reception from German government

Polarstern scientists, on an earlier voyage to the Arctic, preparing a research station on sea ice. (PHOTO BY STEFFEN SPIELKE, ALFRED WEGENER INSTITUTE)

RANDY BOSWELL
Postmedia News

The German government has weighed in on the dispute over a planned seismic survey in Lancaster Sound, insisting the controversial Arctic seabed probe has nothing to do with oil exploration and offering Inuit opponents of the project a special place on the German research ship now poised to conduct the tests for the Canadian government.

The conciliatory offer — made to angered Inuit communities through a statement from the German Embassy in Ottawa — came as Baffin Island residents opposed to the sea floor scan battled with federal officials in a Nunavut courtroom in a bid to block the survey.

In its statement, the embassy said the geological procedure would be “basic research” conducted in an environmentally friendly” manner, calling it “the latest example of Germany’s long-standing and fruitful scientific research collaboration with Canada.”

The crew of the Polarstern research vessel, owned by the German ministry of education and research, “would welcome the opportunity to inform representatives of the Inuit communities concerned about the work to be carried out and are prepared, if so desired, to take on board an additional observer designated by these communities,” the embassy stated.

The controversy, first reported by Postmedia News in April, flared after the Geological Survey of Canada applied for permission to have the German ship carry out seismic tests this summer in Lancaster Sound — the same waters hailed as an ecological treasure by Environment Minister Jim Prentice in December, when he announced federal plans to designate the region a national marine conservation area.

The Iqaluit-based environmental group Oceans North Canada and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, which represents several Baffin Island communities opposed to the survey, argue that the acoustic blasts used in seismic testing to probe the ocean floor could harm wildlife.

Despite statements from Canadian officials — including Prentice — and the German researchers, that the survey is not designed to explore for oil and gas resources, the QIA has argued that the tests are a prelude to possible petroleum development and that the federal government “ignored” various concerns raised by Inuit hunters and other Baffin Island residents during community consultations about the project.

Meanwhile, two territorial government agencies — the Nunavut Research Institute and Nunavut Impact Review Board — have approved the federal government’s plan to have the Polarstern conduct seismic tests in Lancaster Sound.

Earlier this week, the QIA filed notice with the Nunavut Territorial Court that it is seeking an injunction to stop the survey.

Hearings on the matter were held Thursday and Friday in Iqaluit.

“Part of the stated purpose of the testing is to determine the oil and gas potential in the area,” the QIA’s court filing argues.

“The proposed testing method uses compressed air guns to generate an acoustic pulse . . . (that) can be quite damaging to the hearing of animals in proximity to the air guns and could have a detrimental impact on animals’ migratory patterns because of their ability to sense these pulses at a great distance.”

Earlier this week, a spokesman for the Alfred Wegener Institute — the German research body that runs the Polarstern’s polar expeditions — told Postmedia News that the ship’s scientists are “quite irritated” that the Lancaster Sound survey has become controversial and expressed hope that the mission “will not be misused in an inner-Canadian political conflict.”

Inuit officials didn’t immediately respond to the German Embassy’s invitation for an additional observer from the Baffin Island communities to monitor the seismic survey from the deck of the Polarstern.

The QIA said residents of Clyde River, Arctic Bay and Grise Fiord are among the Nunavut communities opposed to the testing.

The planned survey has also drawn criticism from federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, who recently accused the Conservative government of “rushing ahead with oil exploration” in Lancaster Sound just months after announcing an ecological reserve “in exactly the same place.”

Justice Sue Cooper of the Nunavut Court of Justice said Aug. 6 that she will likely issue an written decision on QIA’s injunction motion by Aug. 8