- A staggering 90% of the earth’s narwhals call Baffin Bay, Canada home.
- Oil exploration using seismic cannon mapping threatens to kill not only narwhals, but most aquatic mammals in this region.
- Seismic cannons are 100,000 times louder than a jet engine at 250dB and are fired every ten seconds, 24 hrs a day, for months on end.
- Jerry Natanine, the Inuit mayor of Clyde River is leading the crusade to protect narwhals against seismic blasting this summer.
Baffin Bay, Canada – April 6, 2015 – Imagine one day inexplicably being cut off from all communication with your family and friends; 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for months on end. Scared and alone, life’s precious journey progressively wears thin, eventually leading to the inevitable – death. This grim scenario could be a harsh reality for the narwhal, one of the rarest whales on earth, in Baffin Bay unless we intervene.
This summer, with the green light from the Canadian government, oceanic oil and gas exploration is set to begin in Baffin Bay using seismic cannon mapping. In the name of searching for oil, this callous mapping method involves emitting deafening sound waves that are extremely destructive to sea life, especially dolphins, whales and narwhals. These cannons fire repeatedly every ten seconds for twenty-four hours a day, for months on end.
Jerry Natanine, the Inuit Mayor of Clyde River, and his coalition have been granted a hearing in Toronto on April 15th to appeal the Canadian government’s decision to allow mapping this summer. A number of groups, including Greenpeace and Save the Arctic, are coming together to support the cause and garner more attention.
Created to help the Inuit community raise awareness towards banning this brutal practice, a Kickstarter Campaign ‘Keep Narwhals Real!’ has begun in the form of an expedition / documentary film. Together we can shed enough light on this invasive and deadly form of oil exploration, and maybe that government green light will become a red one.