VANCOUVER , British Columbia—Canada has pulled funding from an undersea geological study on its Pacific coast amid complaints that the tests would endanger whales and other marine life, officials said Friday.
Environmental groups praised the decision, saying the loud seismic blasting planned by Canadian and U.S. scientists, using massive air guns, had posed an unacceptable risk to animals living in or migrating through the testing area.
"It is a great relief to coastal communities and all those who depend on marine resources," Herrman Meuter of the North Coast Cetacean Society said in a statement.
Scientists had planned to conduct the acoustic blasting off the British Columbia coast in late September and October to study of the formation of the coastal mountains.
The researchers argued the acoustic impact did not pose a danger and that similar testing in the region in 1994 had not disrupted the behavior of marine mammals.
The lead Canadian scientist told CBC Radio the project still had some funding from the U.S. government, and the researchers might see if they could collect the geological data using land-based testing.
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