Posts Tagged ‘Nunavut’

Seismic survey for oil and gas in Lancaster Sound NMCA approved by Nunavut Impact Review Board

June 22nd, 2010 admin



On December 18, 2009 the Geological Survey of Canada submitted a proposal to the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) for their “Eastern Canadian Arctic Seismic Experiment (ECASE)”; an experiment in which seismic surveys for oil and gas would be carried out. The experiment is set to take place in Jones Sound, Baffin Island and Lancaster Sound – a proposed National Marine Conservation Area. On May 21, 2010 the NIRB approved the project under the condition that the Geological Survey of Canada follows a set of recommendations, including those for waste management, wildlife and public consultations. NIRB also suggested that any seismic results for Lancaster Sound be submitted to Parks Canada and other agencies to assist them in identifying the existence of non-renewable resources – to be later used for the development of a mineral and energy resources assessment (this assessment plays a significant role in determining the boundaries of most parks).


There has been opposition against the seismic survey by High Arctic communities and Oceans North Canada as they fear the potential impacts the seismic survey may have on the areas wildlife, of which some communities depend on for sustenance. The Qikiqtani Inuit Association and Parks Canada have also opposed the proceeding of any tests in Lancaster Sound as feasibility studies for an NMCA designation currently take place.


Lancaster Sound is located between Devon Island and Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada and is home to a large variety of wildlife such as belugas, bowhead whales and harp seals. The region around Lancaster Sound includes bays, inlets and ice fields surrounded by high cliffs and spectacular fjords that stretch from Ellesmere Island to the Gulf of Boothia in the south to the waters surrounding Cornwallis Island to the west in Nunavut, Canada. This area has one of the highest concentrations of polar bears in the Canadian Arctic. Twenty Important Bird Areas are found inside or adjacent to the proposed protected area, providing essential habitat for large colonies of snow geese, ivory gulls, arctic terns and thick-billed murres. Protected areas like the one proposed at Lancaster Sound conserve some of our most important natural spaces, providing Canada and the world with clean air and water, abundant wildlife populations, and healthy communities and ecosystems.

Nature Canada fully supports and looks forward to the establishment of the Lancaster Sound NMCA.

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Good News for Polar Bears

October 31st, 2009 admin

Polar Bears that live in Canada’s far north, with ranges that overlap Nunavut and Greenland, will be protected by a new agreement. Canadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice is in Greenland today for the signing ceremony with the governments of Greenland and Nunavut.

From the Ottawa Citizen:

“Conservation groups have said they expect the agreement to be similar to other bilateral deals, such as one signed last year between Canada and the U.S., as well as a separate agreement between Alaska and Russia.
…
Previous bilateral agreements have set a framework for collaboration on scientific research and monitoring of population levels, and could also include specific provisions to address or restrict hunting.”

Read more news from the CBC and the Globe and Mail.

In 2008 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued its decision to list the Polar Bear as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. The Polar Bear is not yet listed under Canada’s Species At Risk Act, despite the fact that more than half of the world’s Polar Bears are found in Canada. You can join the campaign calling on the Environment Minister to add the Polar Bear to Canada’s official Species At Risk list.

About the Polar Bear
Common Name: Polar Bear
Latin Name: Ursus Maritimus
Status: Special Concern (according to the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada)
Size: Males are typically between two and three metres long and weigh up to 500 kg, though a few weigh as much as 800 kg. Females weigh between 150 to 250 kg.
Population: 22,000 to 27,000
Life Span: 20 to 25 years
Range: Most polar bears live in Canada, but other populations exist in Alaska, Russia, Greenland and Norway.
Threats: Climate change, air pollution, oil spills and toxic chemicals.

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Nunavut Considers Limiting Polar Bear Hunt

October 1st, 2009 admin

Nunavut’s territorial government has suggested cutting the annual polar bear hunting quota nearly in half — from 105 bears to 64 — because “under the current harvest conditions…there is a 100 percent chance of population decline.”

According to the Canadian Press, Environment Minister Daniel Shewchuk warned Nunavut’s Wildlife Management Review Board, which makes decisions on hunting quotas, that the international community is watching, and that limiting the hunt is necessary to avoid damaging economic sanctions. (Full story).

Limiting the hunt is a contentious issue. On the one hand, local hunters insist that computer models, which suggest the Baffin Bay polar bear population has been reduced to 1,500, are wrong. They point to models that inaccurately reported the decline of the bowhead whale as evidence that such models are not to be trusted.

I am more inclined to trust the computer models, however, than the hunters apparently do, and I’m inclined to trust those who use them.

I am inclined to trust the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which predicts a 30% decline in population for the polar bear within three generations (about 45 years).

And I trust the Center for Biological Diversity, who forecast that, if current warming trends continue to wipe out the polar bear’s traditional, sea ice hunting grounds, two-thirds of all polar bears could be extinct by 2050.

And I trust the US Geological Survey, who estimate as many as two thirds of the 20-25,000 polar bears that roam the Arctic could disappear by the middle of this century.

In 2009, the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG) cited climate change as the greatest challenge to the conservation of polar bears. While much work remains to address the climate change threat, reducing hunting quotas on an increasingly vulnerable species would be a welcome development.

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