(CBC News, 13 July 2007)** -- Some researchers say they've had to put off portions of their International Polar Year projects for a year because of delays in obtaining federal funding. Officials with the government's International Polar Year funding office say the selection process for funding took much longer than expected, as it was swamped with hundreds of proposals last winter. The accepted projects were announced in March and financial details have had to be worked out, creating delays in payments. That delay has affected projects such as Tony Gascon's upcoming research on thick-billed murres on Coates Island. "In our case, the project itself is not postponed, but some segments of the project that we had planned for this year, we're having to postpone until next year," Gascon, a researcher with the Canadian Wildlife Service, said Thursday. Natural Resources Canada's polar continental shelf project, which provides support and advice for Canadian scientists working in isolated Arctic areas, has also noticed an impact. Mike Kristjanson, the project's logistics manager in Resolute Bay, Nunavut, said demand for project assistance has gone up five to 10 per cent overall this year, but he had expected it to be higher.

Tagged: IPY project, News, Planning and Organization