Alarm over mass gas test in Otway basin

COASTAL community groups have expressed alarm at a plan to conduct seismic testing for gas and oil over a Tasmania-sized area of the Otway basin that could run for up to five years.

International geophysical specialists TGS and Schlumberger want to 3D map beneath the ocean’s floor for prospective fossil fuel producers in waters between Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia.

It would involve loud blasts from a ship down through the ocean floor in an area well-renowned as migratory route and nursery for numerous species of whales, dolphins and seals, and a lucrative fishing area for rock lobster and southern blue-fin tuna.

“It’s far louder than a plane taking off or a gunshot… every 3-10 seconds, 24 hours a day, potentially for up to 200 days a year,” Surfers For Climate Co-Founder Belinda Baggs said of the process.

Chair of the Apollo Bay fisherman’s co-operative Markus Nolle said the “absolutely massive” survey area would be the biggest ever conducted there.

“Seismic activity on this scale will have a huge impact… displace migratory finfish, and fatally damage other oceanic species.”

The companies say the testing is in deeper waters to reduce the potential effects on marine fauna and effected commercial fisheries would have their claims considered on a “case by case basis”.

First Nation’s groups such as the Gunditjmara-led Southern Ocean Protection Embassy Collective (SOPEC) said they do not consent to the proposal.

“We are now living in the time of mass extinction. When I look out at the magic of the Southern Ocean, I don’t want to see gas mines lighting up the horizon, I want to see rainbows from whale breaths,” Whale Dreaming Custodian Yaraan Couzens-Bundle said.

Revelations of the plan last week coincided with the federal governments anouncement it was releasing 47,000 square kilometres of new oil and gas exploration areas off Australia’s coastline, but unlike previous years the Otway basin was not on the list.

“As we strive to reduce emissions it must be emphasised that continued exploration for oil and gas in Commonwealth waters is central to alleviating future domestic gas shortfalls,” Resources Minister Madeleine King said.

Mr Nolle said the comments are at odds with the government’s own department of Geoscience Australia, that said based on 2020 rates of production there’s “sufficient to supply the demand for gas, domestic and overseas, for over 40 years”.