Advanced Search

Share Coverage



Category: Environment / Environmental Impact / Oil and Gas / Industry / Mining Environmental Issues

Whales on increase in Great Australian Bight as BP oil drilling looms

Tuesday, 23 Aug 2016 09:57:58 | Malcolm Sutton

Whales filmed by Sea Shepherd crew aboard the Steve Irwin in the Great Australian Bight. (Supplied: Sea Shepherd)

A record number of whales has been counted at the head of the Great Australian Bight (GAB), highlighting concerns about proposed exploratory drilling in the region.

Key points:

  • 81 females and calves counted in survey
  • BP wants to drill up to four wells in bight
  • Environmentalists fear impact of oil spill

Some 81 southern right whale females and their calves were counted in this year's breeding season survey.

Curtin University researcher Claire Charlton said it was the most whales ever counted in the area, after only a small number arrived last year.

"It is very important to be able to monitor because it's our ability to be able to detect the rate of increase of the population over time," she said.

"To know the whales are having a high year is very important."

The encouraging development comes at a time when environmentalists believe the waters to be under threat by BP's proposal to drill exploration wells in the bight.

The oil giant wants to drill to up to four exploration wells in deep water but there are widespread fears about the impacts of an oil spill in the region.

BP is responsible for the world's biggest oil spill in 2010 when enough oil to fill 311 Olympic-sized swimming pools escaped after an explosion on board the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

It took 87 days for the well blowout to be plugged 1.6 kilometres below the surface.

BP wants to drill in waters deeper than the Gulf of Mexico, and much rougher, with the GAB regularly experiencing high seas from the south.

Rescue crews try to extinguish a blaze on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig Photo: An explosion ripped through BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig in April, 2010, killing 11 people. (US Coast Guard: AFP)

The Wilderness Society said an accident in the GAB with just 10 per cent of the flow over 87 days during winter would result in oil reaching Kangaroo Island in four months, and would likely enter the state's Spencer and Saint Vincent gulfs as well as Victoria and Tasmania.

SA director Peter Owen last year said the "pristine waters were a haven for whales, boasting the world's most significant right whale nursery, as well as many humpback, sperm, blue and beak whales".

He said it would devastate SA's $442-million fishing industry and coastal tourism ventures worth more than $1 billion.

High-profile environmental organisation Sea Shepherd recently returned from an expedition to the area on board the Steve Irwin.

Great Australian Bight 'on par' with Galapagos

Expedition leader Jeff Hansen said the GAB was on par with the Galapagos as a wilderness area of global significance.

Sea Shepherd's Steve Irwin Photo: The Steve Irwin moored at Port Adelaide after its tour of the Great Australian Bight. (ABC News: Malcolm Sutton)

"[It] should be World Heritage [listed] for its whale calving places, its seal colonies, its island banks linked with thousands of pelicans, other sea birds, its great white sharks, dolphins and healthy food chain, undersea canyons, cliffs, beaches and rich Aboriginal heritage," he said.

"Risking one of the last great wilderness areas in a push to expand the fossil fuel industry is the height of irresponsibility."

BP wants to use a semi-submersible mobile offshore unit to drill at depths between 1,000 metres and 2,500 metres this summer at locations about 400 kilometres west of Port Lincoln in the bight.

Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association South Australia director Matt Doman said oil exploration in Australia had a good track record.

"We've had oil and gas activity there for decades, over 50 years, that's been conducted safely and sustainably," he said.

"In the midst of significant whale populations for example and in the midst of significant marine shipping routes."

BP's Environment Plan for the region has been knocked back twice by the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environment Management Authority.

AustraliaPlus


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend