Protesters take to water over King Island oil and gas search

Protesters on surfboards have confronted a seismic testing ship in port in Geelong as it prepares to sail to waters near King Island to search for new oil and gas deposits.

Last week the federal government’s offshore oil and gas regulator finally approved the controversial King Island seismic testing project, which will take place about 23 kilometres west of the island, including in part of the Zeehan Marine Park.

The environmental activists in Corio Bay on Sunday.

The area to be surveyed is 4090 square kilometres and lies about 28 kilometres south of Cape Otway. Surrounding shires including the Colac Otway Shire, Surf Coast and King Island Council have officially opposed the testing.

The councils hold concerns about potential effects on marine life â€" including whales and rock lobster fisheries â€" and opposition to further gas and oil exploration in an era of rapid climate change.

Oil and gas exploration company ConocoPhillips was given the green light by the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority to carry out the testing.

The permit notes ConocoPhillips has until the end of October to complete the survey, with this window considered most suitable because the Victorian and Tasmanian southern rock lobster and giant crab fisheries are “partially closed”, and there is a low likelihood of pygmy blue whales and humpback whales being present. It notes southern right whales present on the Australian coastline are expected to migrate south towards the end of the survey window.

A ConocoPhillips spokesperson said controls had been put in place to minimise impacts. These include reducing the operational area, selecting the time of year that has the least impact on marine species and commercial fishing, and redesigning the seismic survey to remove areas of giant crab and southern rock lobster habitat.

“The survey will use ConocoPhillips’ proprietary Compressive Seismic Imaging Technology, which acquires similar information to conventional seismic but with fewer samples and in less time,” the spokesperson said.

Seismic surveys use large blasts of reflected sound waves from compressed air guns to produce a “CAT scan” of the Earth’s subsurface, and are primarily used for oil and gas exploration.

On Sunday a group of protesters from OCEAN â€" the Otway Climate Emergency Action Network â€" paddled into Corio Port in Geelong, from where the seismic testing vessel Geo Coral will depart for the King Island region. Three were arrested.

Protester and surfer Belinda Baggs said seismic testing could have a devastating impact on marine life. “New gas exploration risks a healthy ocean and adds to emissions that we drastically need to reduce,” she said.

Development of new oil and gas reserves is increasingly contentious. In May, the global International Energy Agency said no new oil, gas or coal should be developed if the world is to reach net zero by 2050.

And last week Antonio Guterres, United Nations secretary-general, said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change paper signalled a “code red for humanity” and “must sound a death knell” for fossil fuels.

Wilderness Society national corporate campaigner Jess Lerch said the revised version of the ConocoPhillips seismic blasting plan was provided to the regulator just five days before the approval decision, which did not give the community enough time to respond.

“The company had the seismic boat well on the way to King Island before the approval had landed in ConocoPhillips’ inbox,” she said. “That’s the equivalent of starting the chainsaw as you wait for the permit to cut down the forest to arrive.

“At every stage there is a presumption that the blasting will go ahead, no matter what the risks. This entire ‘regulatory’ process works for oil and gas companies, not the community or the environment.”

There is limited research into the effects of seismic testing on marine life. In 2010 fishers in the Bass Strait reported the death of 24,000 tonnes of scallops worth $70 million after seismic testing carried out by the Victorian government.

Tests conducted by researchers from the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania and Curtin University have found that noise from the seismic airguns used for marine oil and gas exploration significantly increases mortality in scallops.

The study, published in the prestigious US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, used field-based experiments over a three-year period to test the impact on scallops of exposure to the compressed air guns.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.

Miki Perkins is a senior journalist and Environment Reporter at The Age.

Share this post