Posted Monday, December 8, 2003 by mark.butler

November 27, 2003

Premier John Hamm

Province House

Halifax, Nova Scotia

The Science Review considered the scientific evidence on the fisheries and ecosystem of the Corridor lease area and ranked the evidence on effects of seismic on a four-step scale in descending order from certainty to judgement call. E.g., We are certain that .... We are confident that .... We predict that .... It is our judgement that ....

We found that the scientific information on three critical issues -- snow crab, finfish (hake in particular), and the ecosystem as a whole -- consists of judgement calls, the lowest level of scientific assertion. These do not provide a credible scientific foundation for supporting a high stakes decision. In this high-stakes case the scientific evidence is patchy. The power to predict the outcome is weak.

Please don’t impose these risks on us.

Sincerely,

Ron Loucks, Ph.D.

Oceanographer, member of the Science Review Committee