FISHERMEN
& FRIENDS OF THE SEA
RESPONSE
TO PUBLIC STATEMENTS MADE BY EMA, PETROTRIN AND BPTT ON PROPOSED SEISMIC SURVEY
IN GULF OF PARIA
The following update is provided
in keeping with FFOS’ on-going commitment to keep the public informed of
Petrotrin’s pending application to the Environmental Management Authority (EMA)
for a Certificate of Environmental Clearance (CEC) to carry out oil/gas
exploratory Seismic Surveys in Trinidad and Tobago waters without requiring an
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), as provided for in the Environmental Act
(2000).
According to the EMA, a
CEC is issued prior to the start of the proposed activity (in this case a
Seismic Survey) if the EMA considers the activity to be environmentally
acceptable providing it is carried out according to the conditions laid out in
the Certificate.
“The EIA is an invaluable tool
in planning and environmental management which may be used in the CEC process
depending on the proposed activity” (Page 3, EMA’s Guide to the Application for
a CEC).
The EIA is the process for
identifying the likely effects on the environment and society from carrying out
the Seismic Survey and for conveying this information to members of the public
and those responsible for carrying out the proposed activity. The use of the
EIA facilitates public participation and seeks to address and minimize
potential adverse impacts, identifies environmental sensitivities, risks, as
well as contributes to formulation of environmental management plans.
Some fifty-six (56) Seismic
Surveys have been issued CECs by the EMA and carried since 2000 without an EIA.
So far this year, the EMA has already issued three (3) CECs for Seismic Surveys
and three more applications are pending including Petrotrin’s (EMA Public
Register, October, 2013). The EMA intends to continue to issue environmental
clearance without EIAs.
By failing to require EIA’s the EMA has prevented the
applicant from having to collect essential baseline environmental data before
starting the Seismic Surveys during the Survey and after it is completed. Had
the EMA required EIAs for Seismic Surveys, Petrotrin might have been able to
claim adherence to “the highest standard of risk management”.
According to the EMA’s Practitioner’s Guide for “Deciding
Whether a Project Must have an EIA”, they must use “professional judgement” and
it is “the responsibility of the applicant” to show that “baseline conditions
have not changed significantly”, since any previous EIA of a similar activity
in the same area (Managing Director, EMA, October 15th, 2006, Practitioner’s
Guide 002/2006).
In the case of Seismic Surveys, there are no previous EIAs
hence no baseline – an even stronger case for requiring an EIA.
The EMA claims that the specific
conditions of the CECs they issue make provisions for minimizing the impacts
posed to sea turtles and marine mammals. The EMA also claims to be in the
process of creating new Guidelines for Seismic Surveys. Their objective is to
use existing knowledge of the nation’s fisheries to better inform the CEC
process.
Since they failed to require
EIAs in the past, there is no documented evidence of where, how much and what
types of fish are being caught, and what the impacts of previous specific
Seismic Surveys have been on national fisheries and particularly commercial
fisheries, since only the landing sites and gross quantities caught are
intermittently documented by the Fisheries Division (according to fishermen).
As a result, the EMA is not in a position now, nor
will they be after the Guidelines are written, to “ensure that offshore
activities are conducted in a regulated manner”. Hence they would have failed
to “uphold principles of sustainable development”.
Further, by failing to require EIAs, the EMA has also
deprived key stakeholders, in this case the fisher folk, of participating in
the statutory consultations which are enshrined in the EIA process.
Yet, bpTT has disingenuously described the EMA’s CEC
process as “robust” and “rigorous”.
Everyone is now fully aware of
the grave concerns of fishermen, forced, precisely because of a lack of
consultations, to have to come into the full public gaze and demonstrate
peacefully at the POS waterfront. They are reporting up to 70% drop in catch;
lasting months after the Seismic Surveys are completed.
The Minister responsible for
fisheries recently gained permission from Cabinet to set up a “high level,
inter-disciplinary” Committee (including The Energy Chamber of Commerce) to
“address the negative impact of seismic surveys on the fishing industry”
(Guardian Newspaper, 9th November, 2013).
Unfortunately, the proposed
Committee is dominated by State and Corporate interests (10 persons) with only
2 persons selected to represent the interests of primary stakeholders – the
fishermen, who have vast knowledge and experience of the sea.
Despite claims of having
developed A ‘Draft National Compensation Guidelines to Fishers from Seismic
Operations’, the State is not in a position to calculate compensation
accurately because there is simply no relevant data.
The limited data that we have
seen reports major reductions in fish catch, water quality and biodiversity as
a result of several activities including land based pollution, over fishing and
unsustainable commercial fishing.
Had the EMA required EIAs,
impacts arising from these other activities could have been better quantified
and the specific impacts of Seismic Surveys better distinguished. Additionally,
the cumulative impacts of all our activities which affect the well-being of our
Sea and commercial fisheries would have been better understood.
Petrotrin disingenuously claims
that in 2004, the “highest catch at Claxton Bay occurred during a Seismic
Survey” carried out in the North Marine Area of the Soldado Fields. They are of
course referring to the one-time catch of fish that managed to flee north from
the Seismic activity they were conducting.
Petrotrin states that the sound
from their Survey “will not exceed 250 decibels” and refers the public to a
1996 Study (Dalen et al) which reports Seismic Surveys have “little or no
impact” on fish stock.
However this contradicts a more recent ‘Report
for the Norwegian Oil Association’ which states “many experiments show physical
damage to fish (eggs, larvae and fry, as well as larger fishes) will occur at a
sound pressure level of around 230 dB”. To understand this, the same Report
says “a threshold for human pain underwater is 202 decibels and direct damage
is 222 decibels” (Ingebret Gausland, 2003).
Petrotrin also refers to a 2007
Study by ‘Woodside’ (an Australian oil/gas giant) on Scott Reef in Australia,
reporting “no significant impact on long-term fish behaviour”.
However, the Commonwealth
Fisheries Association, with the support of industry around Australia, has
lodged a nomination with the Department of Sustainability, the Environment,
Water, Population and Communities, for marine seismic survey activities as a
“key threatening process” under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity
Conservation Act 1999, saying “there is growing evidence that seismic surveys
cause damage to marine life, displacement from habitats (of fish) and
disruption to breeding.”
Nine species are listed that
could become vulnerable or “more highly endangered” including Black Jewfish,
Scampi, Blue Warehou, Gemfish, Orange Roughy, Arrow Squid, Bluefin tuna and the
Loggerhead Turtle” (Underwater noise, marine Noise Pollution, Australia, April,
2013).
Petrotrin claims in the Sunday
Express (17/11/13) that Seismic Surveys “cannot be compared to bombing”, while
bpTT calls it “pressured air pulses”. However, the CEC application by Petrotrin
to the EMA indicates they intend to use a 1500 psi (pounds per square inch)
“airgun array” triggered off every 50 meters to generate a “seismic explosion”
or shot (page 4, Project Description). We calculate that over 30,000 of these
“explosions” will be made during their proposed Seismic Survey.
Local fishermen, who experience
the impacts directly, call it “Seismic Bombing”.
FFOS shares bpTT’s belief that
there is “need to educate the public on the seismic technology being used and
measures already in place to minimise environmental impacts” and accepts
Petrotrin’s “assurance” that it will “observe all applicable laws imposed by
the EMA”. The ball is in the EMA’s court.
FFOS shall stand firm on the
side of fishermen, fish and the integrity of both our oil/gas and fisheries
sectors. We are prepared to sit on a fairly constituted Cabinet appointed
Committee if there is a moratorium on further Seismic Surveys without EIAs
while the Committee deliberates. We are however, prepared to seek natural
justice in the High Court if further caution is thrown to the wind.