The International Association of Geophysical Contractors has issued a press release entitled:
“Seismic Surveys Successfully Coexist with Tourism and Fisheries Despite Erroneous Claims.”
The first couple of paragraphs of IAGC’s press release explain:
Environmental activist groups have increasingly used misinformation targeting geophysical surveys in an effort to halt oil and gas exploration and development. One such example of their recent propaganda attempts to mislead the Belizean community to believe that seismic surveys are harmful to marine life and threaten fishing and tourism. These allegations are simply false.
The fact is, there is no scientific support for their statements. Their assertions are speculative and anecdotal at best, pointing to what might or may occur, but has not occurred after more than 50 years of global seismic data acquisition. No animals are injured as a result of sound from seismic surveys. The growing body of data supports this. Purported risks suggested by these groups have failed to materialize; the impact of seismic surveys has been grossly misrepresented and it is irresponsible to mislead the public that such speculations are demonstrated facts, when they are not.
