Scientists lobby to keep Sable station open  

Halifax Chronicle Herald, November 22, 2004

A group of 24 biologists, geologists and atmospheric scientists have written a letter to Environment Minister Stephane Dion and Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan asking them to ensure Sable Island Station stays open.

The scientists want the ministers to take the issue directly to cabinet.

They state in the letter that a potential closure of Sable Island Station would be "a grave and irreversible mistake." The group says that long-term funding for the environmentally rich area is necessary and Ottawa should maintain its role in managing operations on the island.

"For 200 years the government station has provided continuous stewardship for the sandy, windswept crescent 160 kilometres southeast of Halifax," the scientists said in a news release.

The group argues that the island is home to many species of nesting birds, a unique population of wild horses and the globe's largest colony of grey seals.

In their letter to the politicians, the scientists write that Sable Island Station's small staff support numerous research programs, ranging from conservation and marine safety to weather forecasting and heritage education.

Studies on the island with international significance include global warming research and upper wind data collection for transatlantic aircraft navigation, the news release said.

Sable Island Station "offers a highly productive, and unique, synergistic environment," the academic signatories write in their letter, explaining that it provides opportunities to study the diverse ecology of both the Scotian Shelf and greater Northwest Atlantic marine environments.

The release said a "funding shortfall of $500,000" and failed attempts to transfer the station's management from the federal government to a volunteer organization have made Sable Island Station particularly vulnerable to closure.