Australia's oceans are a 'free for all' for multinational exploration companies
A network of community and environmental groups in Victoria and Tasmania say they want to know why a foreign company being investigated for environmental crimes is being allowed to put marine life at risk by using massive seismic blasts to explore for offshore gas.
Lisa Deppeler, alliance representative and director of OCEAN (Otway Climate Emergency Action Network), estimates that 99% of Australians, including our politicians, are unaware of what is happening offshore in Australia, a situation enabled by the obscure government incentives and loopholes that encourage a free for all approach.
According to documents obtained under FOI legislation, multinational corporation Schlumberger, one of two foreign companies planning seismic blasting in the Otway Basin, is currently under criminal investigation.
The group strongly suspects this is for breaching an environmental limitation during their 2019–20 2D seismic blasting project in the Otway Basin.
The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority(NOPSEMA) has advised OCEAN that this investigation will not affect Schlumberge's current application for a permit to 3D blast the same area.
Lisa Deppeler said: 'What we have found out during our enquiries has left our group gobsmacked. If this kind of unrestricted, exploitation was happening on mainland Australia there would be riots in the streets. Australians and our government representatives are being hoodwinked. A delegation from our group recently travelled to Canberra to speak to members of parliament and we found that most of them were unaware of what seismic blasting is, and of the backdoor approach being facilitated by the offshore titles' administrator, NOPTA. Those who met with our group were shocked and deeply concerned.'
The group has discovered:
A Special Prospectors Authority (SPA) allows multinational exploration companies to select areas of Australia's ocean for seismic blasting. An SPA sits outside the Minister for Resources' annual offshore titles release, thereby escaping the usual community consultation and governmental scrutiny. The decision to grant an SPA lies entirely with the Title Administrator from NOPTA. Important decisions concerning the health of our ocean are in the hands of a bureaucrat and not the Australian people.
Each SPA is assessed in isolation. This means that multiple exploration companies can blast the same area of ocean repeatedly. The offshore regulator does not take into consideration the cumulative impact of multiple blasting of the same marine habitat.
Offshore seismic blasting is used to explore for fossil fuel deposits deep below the ocean floor. The survey ship covers an area of ocean in a grid pattern, releasing blasts of approximately 250 decibels, every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, often for months on end.
Human hearing is lost at 160 decibels. Scientific research has found that the blasts can severely disrupt, damage and kill marine species either by the blasts themselves or by impacting their feeding, breeding and migrations. The blasts impact and kill zooplankton within a radius of at least 1.2km radius of each blast.
Tasmanian fisher Craig Garland says. 'Our fishing industry is highly regulated and is known as one of the most sustainable fishing industries in the world. We work with very strict guidelines and quotas to remain viable, yet these companies can come along and blast our fishing grounds and our livelihood.'
A 2021 Senate Enquiry into seismic blasting made 19 recommendations to increase research and improve government policy around offshore gas exploration.
None of these recommendations has been enacted.Freja Leonard, from Friends of the Earth Melbourne, said, 'Seismic survey ships are blasting in remote areas beyond the continental shelf, doing untold damage to fisheries and the marine environment as a whole. By the time any gas is found and ready for production we'll be well into the next decade, when by rights the gas industry should be ready to shut up shop.
'The gas industry is damaging from the moment of exploration right through to end use,' Ms Leonard said. 'This is a case of the unacceptable in search of the unnecessary.'
Key Facts:
French seismic blasting company allowed to explore for gas in spite of ongoing criminal investigation
