30 May 2007 - Anchorage,
Alaska, US – Oil and gas drilling in Bristol
Bay could threaten the eastern North Pacific
right whale, the most endangered whale population
in the world, according to a new WWF report
released at the 59th meeting of the International
Whaling Commission.
A planned lease sale area in Bristol Bay
overlaps with critical habitat designated
for the eastern North Pacific right, as
well as for other endangered cetacean species
including bowhead, blue, fin, sei, humpback
and sperm whales.
"Offshore oil and gas development
in Bristol Bay would be the wrong step for
the right whale,” said Margaret Williams,
director of WWF’s Bering Sea Programme.
According to the WWF report, oil and gas
exploration in the Bristol Bay area would
expose whales to noise pollution, oil spills,
chemical pollution, vessel collisions and
entanglement with or ingestion of marine
debris.
There are no reliable estimates of current
abundance or trends for right whales in
the North Pacific. According to US government
sources, there may be fewer than 300 of
these animals left compared to a pre-whaling
population of more than 11,000.
Bristol Bay is also the epicenter of the
Bering Sea fishery whose commercial salmon,
halibut, herring and crab fisheries generate
more than US$2 billion annually. Sport hunters
and fishermen flock to the bay each year,
pumping millions of dollars more into the
economy. And the region’s spectacular wildlife
supports scores of Alaskan natives who rely
on a healthy ecosystem for food.
On 9 January 2007, US President George
Bush rescinded a long-standing presidential
moratorium that prohibited drilling in Bristol
Bay. In July, the new Five Year Oil and
Gas Leasing Program of the Minerals Management
Service (MMS) — a US government agency —
goes into effect and includes plans for
a lease sale in Bristol Bay and other areas
along the US coastline. Bills to block leasing
in Bristol Bay are pending in the US House
of Representatives and the Senate.
The MMS has calculated average estimates
from drilling to generate a total of US$7.7
billion, but that’s just a fraction of the
annual flow of US$2 billion from the Bering
Sea’s renewable and sustainable fishery.
“This is a risk we simply can’t afford to
take," Williams added. "It [drilling]
would jeopardize the nation’s most important
fishery, the hundreds of communities that
rely on fishing and a treasure trove of
wildlife.”
Tom Lalley, WWF-US
