NUNAVUT - The recently-approved Lancaster Sound seismic tests will have a "low" impact on the environment, says a senior research officer with the Nunavut Research Institute (NRI).

Mary Ellen Thomas said NRI issued the licence "because a review of all the scientific literature indicated that there was low environmental impact. I certainly did have the community concerns. However, I give scientific advice."

Representatives involved in the project conducted community consultations in several communities in the region in 2009. A second community consultation tour included Grise Fiord, Arctic Bay, Clyde River, Resolute and Pond Inlet. Residents of those communities hunt and fish in Lancaster Sound, and the region is under consideration to become a national marine conservation area.

"I am shocked that they would spend all this money doing consultations and just turn around and not listen to what people were saying at the consultations," said Duncan Walker, a resident of Resolute Bay.

Quttiktuq MLA Ron Elliott said people are discouraged by the decision to go ahead with the testing and they feel they are not being listened to. Now, he added, it seems there is nothing they can do to stop it.

"In terms of the communities themselves, they are upset and not happy that both levels of government have not listened to their concerns," he said. "From my point of view, the only thing we can do is make sure that everything is done properly and hope that, other than getting out on a boat and trying to do something like Greenpeace would do, there is no other way of stopping them."

Natural Resources Canada spokeswoman Jacinthe Perras said by e-mail that as a result of the community consultations the department will follow Fisheries and Oceans Canada's seismic noise reduction guidelines, increase the mammal safety zone around the ship to 1,000 metres and ensure that two marine wildlife monitors are on duty at all times.

The Eastern Canadian Arctic Seismic Experiment will be conducted in Lancaster Sound, Jones Sound and Baffin Bay between July 31 and Oct. 15 after NRI issued the licence on July 23.

The Canada-Nunavut Geoscience Office will conduct the program in partnership with the federal and territorial governments and the German Institute of Geoscience.

The tests involve sending sound waves underwater to map geographical features in Canadian, Greenlandic and international waters. This is expected to give scientists a better understanding of the areas' geological formations and learn about the mineral and oil and gas potential for the region. More than 2,700 kilometres of seismic lines' lengths will be in Canadian waters.

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