King islanders say no to oil and gas explorers

Residents of King Island have emphatically rejected oil and gas exploration off their coastline, setting a firm battle line with the industry in a key federal marginal seat.

Tasmanian lobster fisherman Clive Perryman, one of many fishermen concerned about the impact seismic testing for oil and gas in Bass Strait will have on fisheries. Picture: Peter Mathew

Residents of King Island have emphatically rejected oil and gas exploration off their coastline, setting a firm battle line with the industry in a key federal marginal seat.

A survey of more than half the island’s adult population shows 96 per cent wants a halt to seismic testing under way or planned by two separate companies east and west of the island.

Of the 537 adult residents who responded to the survey run by Tasmanian pollsters EMRS for the Wilderness Society, 96 per cent opposed seismic blasting, 94 per cent opposed all oil and gas exploration, and 99 per cent ­believed the marine environment surrounding the island was important.

“King Island residents’ community rights have been completely ignored and their marine environment is being – to quote one local crayfisher – ‘smoked’ by seismic blasting,” said Wilderness Society Tasmania campaign manager Tom Allen.

“The Morrison government is enabling ConocoPhillips to inflict this on the King Island community, knowing the harm seismic blasting will cause, that burning gas will make the climate crisis worse and knowing that the International Energy Agency has said there should be no fossil fuel expansion.

“Worse still, despite evidence from the Tasmanian government that seismic blasting permanently harms invertebrates like crayfish, ConocoPhillips has rejected any compensation to the King Island fishing community.”

There is deep concern on King Island and among the fishing ­industry about the potential ­impact on rock lobster and giant crab stocks of Conoco-Phillips seismic surveys in a 4960sq km area to west of the island. To the east of the island, similar fears are held for scallops stocks about Beach Energy’s plans for seismic surveys in a 2307sq km area.

It is also a sensitive issue in the wider marginal federal seat of Braddon, where fishing is a livelihood and a recreational ­obsession.

ConocoPhillips and Beach ­Energy play down the impact of seismic testing on fish, while stressing the need for new gas ­reserves, and insist they consult widely and follow regulatory processes.

The survey also found 77 per cent of islanders felt they had no say in decisions about seismic testing, which involves powerful blasts of air shot from ships on the surface.

Local rock lobster fisherman Kevin Smith said he believed the actual level of opposition among islanders to seismic testing was closer to “100 per cent”.

“None of us are happy because we know what they do kills our breeding stock,” Mr Smith said. “When our crayfish and a lot of other species spawn it floats in the top water column and that’s what they’re blasting, killing everything in that radius.

“It’s not just crayfish; it’s scallops, crabs and many other species. We don’t see the impact straight away. It takes five to seven years, because that’s how long it takes (the crayfish) to settle and reach size. By that time, they (the exploration companies) are long gone.”

Fishing industries believe the testing can kill or harm a variety of species; a concern backed by some peer-reviewed science.