John Englart

Exploration for Fossil gas In Victoria? Let us listen to whales singing, not seismic blasting

The Federal government is allowing gas exploration to proceed in the Otway Basin. In August 2022 the Federal Government opened 46,000 sq km for offshore oil and gas exploration, including in Commonwealth controlled waters off the Victorian coast. This is despite the climate science saying no new coal and gas to meet the Paris Climate targets.

Protest:

When: 4.30pm 15th September 2023
Where: Enterprise Park, on the Birrarung at 4:30PM, marching to State Library via NOPSEMA (National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority) HQ

PROTEST THE DEVASTATION OF SEISMIC BLASTING EXPLORATION FOR UNWANTED GAS in Narrm on 15th September, on the Birrarung at Enterprise Park at 4:30PM, marching to Parliament House via NOPSEMA (National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority) HQ – in the Global Climate Action Network’s Fight to End Fossil Fuels Day of Action 

Seismic blasting exploration for gas is proposed over 55,000 square km of the Otway Basin, off the coasts of Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. This is a whale migration and calving area.

 The 250 decibels blasts, (louder than the Hiroshima bomb) every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for months on end will inevitably cause whales hearing loss. This will damage their echolocation navigation and ability to survive; a deaf whale is a dead whale. The blasting also kills many other marine life forms, from tiny zooplankton to scallops and crayfish, destroying fisheries. 

Gunditjmara Traditional Owners oppose seismic blasting in their ancient waters. 

This devastation to look for a fossil fuel that we don’t need in this climate emergency – it’s mad. 

(Before burning, gas mining, compression and transport release masses of gases AND each gram of methane warms the atmosphere 86 times more than one gram of carbon dioxide.)

We need to phase out fossil fuels, not look for more.

Join us for a rally to wash the city in the sound of the whales and drown out gas exploration and seismic blasting! 

In July the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) outlined the issue:

AMCS Oil and Gas Campaign Manager Louise Morris said: “Offshore oil and gas exploration is dangerous even before a well is sunk. Seismic blasting is deadly for marine life and can impact all levels of the food chain from its very foundations, killing zooplankton more than a kilometre away, to deafening whales.

“Schlumberger-SLB and TGS’s proposal is the biggest seismic blasting operation ever proposed for Australia’s south-eastern waters. Marine life will be bombarded by 220-250 decibel explosions of sound – louder than a bomb blast – every 10-12 seconds for several months. 

“Seismic blasting can have a devastating impact on whales and other marine life. This barrage of noise can cause hearing loss and disturb essential behaviours such navigation, communication, feeding and breeding.

“Seismic blasting also harms species that have value to commercial fishing interests. It can kill scallops and impacts the immune systems of southern rock lobsters.

“Australians don’t want more oil and gas mining in our oceans. There is strong and increasing community opposition to offshore exploration in Australia. In the past decade communities have stopped BP, Chevron and Equinor from drilling in the Great Australian Bight, they have opposed proposed gas exploration off the coast of Sydney, Newcastle and the Central Coast, and there is a growing campaign against gas drilling off the coast of the Otways and Tasmania.

“Australia’s south-east seas are full of marine treasures, from southern right and blue whales,  seals and bluefin tuna to threatened kelp forests and unique deep-sea corals. 

“The vast majority of marine life in Australia’s south-east waters is found nowhere else on Earth, including  85% of fish, 95% of molluscs, 90% of echinoderms and 65% of seaweeds. If we lose them from the southeast, it’s gone from the planet forever.

“We should not allow more oil and gas industrialisation in Australia’s south-east seas, where marine life is already being hit by the double threats of overfishing and climate change, with the waters there warming 3-4 times the global average. 

“Australia must stop approving new fossil fuel schemes, especially in our oceans where the impacts can be devastating to marine life and coastal communities.

“The OECD’s conservative International Energy Agency said we cannot open up any new fossil fuel developments if we want to keep the global average temperature rise to 1.5°C.”

AMCS: Monster seismic blasting plans in southern Australia’s waters threaten whales & marine life
Stop Seismic Blasting | Australian Marine Conservation Society

Samantha Hepburn, Professor in the Deakin Law School, Deakin University wrote at The Conversation in 2022:

Australia is heading in the wrong direction by opening up new fossil fuel exploration.

The move will damage our longer-term security and undermine our climate imperatives. It ignores the glaring economic realities that will eventually push gas out of the market.

And opening new gas fields while carbon-capture remains uncertain is dangerous for the planet.

The Conversation, 25 August 2022

See also:

the Save Southern Sea Country – a joint statement by environmental organisations (24 August 2022)

Citizens Protection Declaration on behalf of the Southern Ocean Protection Embassy Collective.(DrillWatch)

References:



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