Second generation cray fisherman Danny Fox has spent most of his career working the waters surrounding King Island, off Tasmania’s north-west coast.
But he’s not the only one interested in the region.
In recent years, energy corporations have had their eyes on the Otway, Bass and Gippsland basins, between Victoria and Tasmania.
Before exploring for gas or oil, companies may conduct seismic surveying, which involves firing repeated blasts of compressed air from guns into the seabed.
The blasts bounce back to the sea surface and are picked up by audio receivers, with the data analysed to determine the geological make-up of the ocean floor and the likelihood of oil and gas deposits being there.
Representatives of the oil and gas industry have previously argued environmental concerns about seismic surveying’s effects on marine life “lack substance” and have said there is “no conclusive evidence this crucial activity has any lasting harmful impacts on marine species or fisheries”, with one research project finding no harmful effects.
Opponents of the practice say it has devastating consequences on sea life, with a recent study finding seismic surveying had been found to daze, and potentially kill, rock lobster populations — and that does not sit well with Mr Fox.
‘We are left holding the baby’
“I wouldn’t mind seeing an oil executive get into his budgie smugglers, jump in the bath, and put 2,000 PSI in there with a five-inch hose, and we’ll … see what he thinks,” Mr Fox said.
“A little phyllosoma (lobster larvae), which is probably, you know, a millimetre or two long, I just don’t see how that can survive.”
Mr Fox said the problem was fisherman did not find out if stock had been “blown to pieces” until at least five years later, when it was too late.
“Those [exploration] boats have absolutely done their work, and they’ve sailed over the horizon, gone somewhere else, and we’re left holding the baby,” he said.
One of the latest proposals, by multinationals TGS and SLB, plans to blast within a 45,000 square kilometre zone west of King Island.
It comes two years after Conoco Phillips blasted further east in the same basin, with that company announcing in August this year it is proposing to drill up to “six exploration wells … in waters offshore of Victoria and King Island, Tasmania”.
‘Fish rots from the head first’
Mr Fox said he was exhausted by the volume of projects cropping up.
“It’s different companies going over the same bit of bottom, up and down, year in year out, the only thing that changes is the name that’s on the permit,” he said.
But he said the problem came from the top.
“The fish does rot from the head first, and the brains of the whole operation here is in Canberra, and it’s in the permit conditions that they set for these companies,” he said.
The fatigue is widespread among fisherman, according to Seafood Industry Tasmania chief executive Julian Harrington.
“It’s just this continuous threat of activity in their backyard, in the marine environment that they rely on to harvest,” he said.
“If you get bombarded for even six months, it’s hard work. To get bombarded for seven or eight years is pushing people to the point of losing interest.
“Their eyes glaze over, they go, ‘What’s the point? The government approved these things anyway, so what’s the point wasting time and energy trying to fight it’?”
Both Mr Fox and Mr Harrington want companies to be more transparent with their data, so others can use the information and avoid further surveying, and for the industry to harness other technologies.
Basic seismic data is made public after three years from the end of the survey, while interpretive data – analysis of the surveyed area – is available five years from the survey end date.
Non-exclusive data – for commercial sale or license from the survey company – can remain confidential for 15 years.
‘No aspect of marine life which isn’t impacted’
Environmental groups, including the Australian Marine Conservation Society, are also concerned, saying the consequences of seismic blasting are far reaching.
“It destroys the foundation of the ocean’s food web,” campaign manager Louise Morris said.
“Plankton, which is krill, all those tiny little species … literally get pulverised when seismic blasting is done within a couple of kilometres of them.
“The endangered blue whale, which feeds in the area … that’s their food source gone when seismic blasting has happened.”
Ms Morris said the sound affected navigation, migration and communication for whales and dolphins.
“The blasts are equivalent to a bomb going off every 10-15 seconds, 24 hours a day,” she said.
“It pushes whales out of their habitat, it stops their communicating, they go out of their feeding area. There’s no aspect of marine life which isn’t impacted.”
Federal government says repeated seismic testing ‘sometimes necessary’
Resources Minister Madeleine King’s office did not directly respond when asked if the government would tighten rules to prevent companies surveying the same areas, or toughen permit criteria to better consider cumulative impacts.
A spokesperson said: “In general, multiple seismic surveys of the same type will not be run over the same area due to the high cost of such activities.
“Due to advancements in technology and equipment design it is sometimes necessary to acquire a seismic survey over areas where data has been previously acquired.
“Where this is undertaken, it is usually to allow improved imaging of geological features and/or imaging to a greater depth.”
They said the Industry, Science and Resources Department was examining options to revise data management provisions under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Resource Management and Administration) Regulations.
LoadingLoading…