This summer, with the green light from the Canadian government, oceanic oil and gas exploration is set to begin in Baffin Bay, Canada using seismic cannon testing. The method that the mapping agencies will use is extremely destructive to sea life, and especially to cetaceans - dolphins, whales and narwhals. It just so happens that 90% of the earth's narwhals call Baffin Bay home. This testing could led to the near extinction of an entire species.The Inuit Mayor of Clyde River, Jerry Natanine, is leading the crusade to protect narwhals against seismic blasting in Baffin Bay this summer. His coalition has been granted a hearing in Toronto on April 15th to appeal the Canadian government's decision to allow this method of testing. I've assembled an all-star team to join me in a journey to Toronto to cover Natanine's battle and the plight of the narwhals. Our small documentary team included Academy Award nominated producer Vanessa Bergonzoli and cinematographer Peter Mychalcewycz, along with the support of Raul Gasteazoro and Casey Unterman of Black Powder Works. I'm asking you to help save narwhals. There's a number of ways to support the campaign whether it be monetarily, spreading the word via friends, family, and social media, or simply any advice you may have and words of encouragement. Thank you for taking the time to read this email and thanks in advance for your support. Please take a few more minutes to check out the Kickstarter Campaign Here and give what you can (sooner rather than later, it only lasts 16 days!). https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ianqrowan/keep-narwhals-real-a-documentary-film-project More information about the plight of Baffin Bay's narwhals: The method for mapping the seafloor uses seismic cannons, which are 100,000 times louder than a jet engine (250dB), to penetrate the seafloor and map pockets of underground oil. It's been proven to deafen and kill whales off of the California Coast and even their environmental impact estimates include large numbers of dolphin and whale fatalities as part of the costs of searching for oil. These cannons send deafening sound waves throughout the ocean every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, for months. It drowns out whalesong, leaves pods unable to communicate, they become disoriented, and many end up dying as a result. The non-profit ocean conservation group Oceana has an informative video about the practice and successfully thwarted seismic mapping off the Atlantic coast of the U.S. 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 Our Arctic, are coming together to support the cause and garner more widespread attention. Our plan is to head to Toronto to cover Mayor Natanine's appeal, interview the players on both sides, interview a marine biologist that specializes in cetaceans and narwhals, and explore the science behind seismic mapping technologies and their effects on sea life. The second part will be to travel to the hamlet of Clyde River, Baffin Bay and record the Inuit's relationship to narwhals over the centuries, the migrations of the narwhals themselves, and the waters in jeopardy of being seismically "mapped." But in order to do achieve all of our goals we'll need your support! If you can contribute at any level, great! But if you can also share it with people that you think would support the project that would help as well. Or, if you have any advice or insight to share with us, we'd love to hear from you!

• published: 26 Mar 2015
• views: 2