Alarm at seismic testing

THE State Government has made a submission to a Senate inquiry on seismic testing, pointing to research showing negative impacts on lobsters and scallops.

A Senate committee is looking at the impact of seismic testing on fisheries and the marine environment.

A submission by Primary Industries Minister Guy Barnett does not state a position on seismic testing in waters off Tasmania.

However, the submission says “commercial fisheries are of particular importance to the Tasmanian economy”.

Mr Barnett attached a summary of research by the University of Tasmania’s Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), which found air guns used in seismic testing killed scallops and had “sub lethal” effects on lobsters. IMAS examinations of lobsters exposed to testing found significant and permanent damage to the statocysts, which are fluid-filled sacs similar to those found in the human inner ear.

This made the lobsters vulnerable to predators.

The air gun was also found to be lethal to scallops, resulting in increased mortality rate, with 60 per cent dying within 120 days of exposure, compared with 5 per cent of scallops not exposed to testing.

IMAS also found “significant” localised zooplankton mortality at a distance of greater than 1km from the air gun.

Tasmanian scallop and rock lobster industry groups are concerned about the impact of testing, given the mass deaths of scallops following testing in Bass Strait in 2010.

Oil company 3D Oil currently has approval to conduct seismic testing in commonwealth waters west of King Island. In its submission, the Scallop Fishermen’s Association of Tasmania said: “Never again should marine seismic operations be permitted that can impact on valuable marine resources where operators hold government-approved fishing entitlements without full and fair compensation being paid well in advance.”

Tasmanian Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson said the State Government was caught between “a rock and a hard place”. While seismic testing was mostly undertaken in commonwealth waters, Senator Whish-Wilson said the impacts would be felt in state waters.

“If the seismic testing is successful we are then going to see oil and gas drilling and all the risks of that,” he said.