A rally for Whale song not seismic blasting wound its way from the Banks of the Yarra river to State Parliament, via a protest outside the office building with regulatory agency NOPEMSA on the 25th floor.

The march was led by First Nation Gunditjmara people putting a voice to their seacountry and the marine ecosystems of South West Victoria.

The question needs to be asked: Why is the Australian government allowing offshore oil and gas exploitation when we already have enough reseerves of fossil fuels in production to cook the planet?

Why is the government allowing destructive seismic blasting to occurr that impacts marine life from the smallest zooplankton to the largest in the great whales? This also affects marine life in marine national parks. The government seems to ignore the marine significance of the Great Southern reef system, that is as important as the Great Barrier Reef. The fact that it is largely out of sight and out of mind is no reason to let the fossil fuel cowboys run rampant with seismic blasting.

The Government is also acting in opposition to First Nation Gunditjmara people wanting to protect seacountry and culture. See Citizens Protection Declaration: https://drillwatch.org.au/

The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) is Australia’s independent expert regulator for health and safety, structural (well) integrity and environmental management for offshore petroleum and greenhouse gas storage activities in Commonwealth waters, and in coastal waters where regulatory powers and functions have been conferred. It comes under the portfolio of Resources and Energy Minister Madelaine King.

We cite three grounds of concern:

1. The Gunditjmara people want their seacountry protected. Consultation is not consent for allowing damage to marine life.
2. Exploration for new fossil fuels is preliminary to exploitation, when we have more than enough fossil fuel reserves to already cook the planet.
3. Impact on biodiversity and ecosystems. Seismic Blasting will adversely impact marine ecosystems already stressed by marine heat waves due to global warming.

See detailed arguments below.

2. New Fossil Fuel projects exacerbating global warming.

The International Energy Agency, the United Nations and IPCC all say that no fossil fuel projects should proceed in order to reach net zero by 2050. The Albanese government needs to start taking climate science seriously and stop the exploration for new fossil fuels.

The International Energy Agency 2021 report, Net Zero by 2050 – A  Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector, makes it clear that no new fossil fuel development can be made if the world is to reach net zero by 2050.

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

Seismic blasting is the stepping-stone to fossil fuel extraction and plans to continue exploration are incompatible with achieving the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming 1.5. It will make climate change worse for all of us. (See references below)

The science on fossil fuel extraction and climate targets:

• Welsby, D., Price, J., Pye, S. et al. Unextractable fossil fuels in a 1.5 °C world. Nature 597, 230–234 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03821-8, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03821-8
• Nogrady, Bianca, Nature, 8 September 2021, Most fossil-fuel reserves must remain untapped to hit 1.5 °C warming goal https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02444-3
• Kelly Trout et al (17 May 2022), Existing fossil fuel extraction would warm the world beyond 1.5 °C , Environ. Res. Lett. 17 064010, DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/ac6228, https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6228

3. Seismic Blasting impact on marine ecosystems already stressed by marine heat waves due to global warming

Seismic blasting for oil and gas exploration in our oceans will cause direct harm to ocean ecosystems.

To conduct seismic blasting over the 55,000 sq km of ocean between Victoria and Tasmania will harm marine life, and threatened species in these areas. The proposed Environment Plan (EP) does not include adequate measures to mitigate the impact of such an activity on the ocean environment and the marine life. Furthermore this has been a hasty process, which has sidestepped the regulatory approvals process.

The marine life of our southeast oceans are unique and under increasing threat from the expansion of the offshore oil and gas industry.

Research has shown that seismic blasting results in serious harm to a variety of marine life from deafening whales and disrupting their feeding and migration, damaging the ability of southern rock lobster to function and navigate, and causing mortality in small fish and zooplankton. After seismic blasts, many zooplankton are found dead , as far away as 1.2 kilometres from the blast site. (Reference: McCauley, R., Day, R., Swadling, K. et al. Widely used marine seismic survey air gun operations negatively impact zooplankton. Nat Ecol Evol 1, 0195 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0195, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-017-0195 ) 

This is an unacceptable level of impact on our marine parks, both from the immediate seismic blasting proposed within the Zeehan Marine Park, and the marine parks bordering the Operational Area (OA). Research has shown seismic blast noise travels over 100 km in the oceans, meaning the impact to marine life is well beyond the proposed zone.

There are 34 threatened and migratory species identified as having important habitat that overlaps with either the OA and/or the Environment that may Be Affected (EMBA).

This seismic blasting proposed by TGS/SLB-Schlumberger must not proceed due to the devastating impacts on marine life and our oceans that will result.

What you can do?

Email your local MP:

• In Wills it is Government MP Peter Khalil: Peter.Khalil.MP@aph.gov.au

Email Ministers:

• Madeleine King, Minister for Resources and Energy: Minister.King@industry.gov.au,
• Chris Bowen, Minister for Climate Change: minister.bowen@dcceew.gov.au,
• Tanya Plibersek, Minister for the Environment: Minister.Plibersek@dcceew.gov.au