Page 46 - IAGC The Voice 2017
P. 46
IAGC WEIGHS IN ON
ZOOPLANKTON STUDY
O n 22 June 2017, the IAGC The IAGC's statement issued consistent results that can be
released
replicated and verified by other
a
statement
shortly after the paper's release
regarding the publication
interesting, we are troubled by the
best traditions of science.
of research on the interaction of states, "While we found the study independent researchers, in the
seismic surveys and zooplankton small sample sizes, the large day-
which asserts the surveys kill to-day variability in both the The statement concluded by saying,
zooplankton. According to Robert baseline and experimental data, "While we remain open to all
McCauley, Ryan Day, Kerrie and the large number of speculative emerging new scientific
Swadling, Quinn Fitzgibbon, Reg conclusions that appear information, after more than 50
Watson and Jayson Semmens' inconsistent with the data collected years of continuous seismic
paper, "Widely used marine seismic over a two-day period. Both surveying around the world,
survey air gun operations statistically and methodologically, including extensive operations in
negatively impact zooplankton" this project falls short of what the Gulf of Mexico, and over a
which was published in the Journal would be needed to provide a decade of intense scrutiny by
Nature Ecology & Evolution, their convincing case for adverse effects hundreds of scientists, there is still
research presents "…evidence that from geophysical survey no scientific evidence that sound
suggests seismic surveys cause operations." from seismic operations has
significant mortality to negative population impacts on
zooplankton populations." The statement went on to say that marine life."
although the initial report is peer-
reviewed, it has not been widely
accepted by the expert scientific
community. We look forward to
discussing this topic further with
other experts in this field to
determine the best path toward
more scientifically solid and
46 THE VOICE
