Seismic surveying uses rebounding sound to build up a picture of the sea floor and the geological structures up to 10 kilometres beneath it to investigate the presence of gas, oil and mineral reserves for future exploitation. Seismic surveying has been a significant concern for fishers and the communities that depend on fisheries for their livelihoods.
Much of the discussion has been based on anecdotal and circumstantial evidence, leading the FRDC to invest in a range of projects to investigate those impacts, as well as to provide an evidentiary base to help stakeholders from mining and fishing to constructively work together.
While seismic is a priority for the fishing industry, other aspects of marine sound are also important. There is increasing concern that marine sound is impacting on fish stocks and altering behaviour.
The FRDC has established a national coordination project managed by Western Australia Fishing Industry Council to:
The funding pathway marine seismic and sound research is through existing RAC and IPA investment process.
The funding pathway for marine seismic and sound research is through existing Research Advisory Committee and Industry Partnership Agreements investment process.
A growing list of publications are available for download and review.
FRDC Seismic Research Report Summaries
The final report for this project was independently peer reviewed by the FRDC and project steering committee.
The project investigated the potential impact of seismic surveys on economically important fishery species, specifically Southern Rock Lobster (Jasus edwardsii)and Commercial Scallop (Pecten fumatus). For Southern Rock Lobster, the research suggests that it is unlikely that seismic surveys cause immediate large scale mortality. Also there was no effect shown in early stage lobster embryos. However, no experiments were conducted on the full suite of embryonic or larval stages so effect on these stages are unknown. Exposure to airgun signals did cause some alteration to adult biology including depression of haemocytes available for immune responses, impairment of reflex behaviours for tail and righting control as well as damage to the sensory hairs on the statocyst (a balance sensory receptor).
With scallops, seismic exposure did not cause immediate mass mortality, however, there was a trend between exposure level and mortality with severely compromised physiology over a 4 month time frame after which there was no signs of recovery. There were also significant changes in behaviour and reflexes following exposure. These impacts could cause a reduced tolerance to other stressors but it is still unclear whether the physiological impairment would cause chronic mortality in timeframes beyond those in the project.
The final report has been completed following review by the FRDC.
The project aimed to improve processes of communication and build relationships between the fishing and petroleum industries so that there is a shared understanding of potential impacts (financial, operational and logistical) and how they could be minimised. During the project, the establishment of the National Offshores Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Agency (NOPSEMA) improved consultation processes. Case studies recognised areas of negative impact as well as examples of best practice. From these case studies four processes were developed to deal with issues identified:
* Having accessible, easy to use central website-based information on the two industry’s associated communication processes.
* Undertaking Roundtable discussion and feedback into overarching policy and process;
* Holding annual regional stakeholder meetings to discuss future planning and issues; and,
* Undertaking one-on-one industry/individual discussions.
The final report for this project was independently peer reviewed by the FRDC and project steering committee.
This project was initiated to undertake a before and after assessment to quantify potential impacts from a 2D seismic survey undertaken by Geoscience Australia in the Gippsland Basin off the coast of Victoria. Initially the project was to obtain seafloor images and identify scallops via an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). Four acoustic recording units were used with 3 being used in the vicinity of the seismic survey and one control. A number of dredge samples were also taken in areas outside of the seismic survey area to assess number of alive and dead scallops as well as the meat and gonad condition of scallops.
The project did have some issues with technology with the AUV footage prior to the seismic survey not being usable due to poor image quality. Additionally, one unit failed to record during the time that the survey was directly above it. The report has stated that there was no short term impact found and suggested as a recommendation that further studies should focus on longer term impacts (addressed below).