Senator warns King Island seismic testing is set to resume

The King Island community is concerned a gas company’s resumption of seismic testing off the island will impact on local rock lobster and fish populations. LATEST HERE >>

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THE King Island community is concerned a gas company’s resumption of seismic testing off the Bass Strait island will impact on local rock lobster and fish populations.

ConocoPhillips Australia wants to look for natural gas reserves in Otway Basin about 25km off King ­Island’s west coast.

Tasmanian Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson – who initiated the holding of a Senate Inquiry into seismic testing – said testing off the Bass Strait island would resume on August 10.

Senator Whish-Wilson said the island’s fishing legacy could be decimated for some short-term fossil fuel interests.

“I know from talking with locals while visiting King Island earlier in the year that past experiences from seismic testing in the region all point to serious impacts on local crayfish and fish populations,” he said.

The Ocean Patriot drill rig that is exploring for gas in the Southern Ocean off Temma, West Coast Tasmania. PICTURE SUPPLIED

He said New Zealand, Greenland, Spain, Denmark, Costa Rica, France, Belize, and Portugal had all implemented bans on new oil and gas exploration because of the risk to marine life. .

In June, one of the 19 recommendations of a Senate Inquiry report into seismic testing was that the federal government study the cumulative impacts of seismic testing by oil and gas companies on marine animals.

Also in June, the federal government released its annual swath of offshore acreage to be auctioned off as petroleum exploration areas.

Included were seven sections in the Otway and Sorell Basin, between Tasmania and Victoria adjacent to a section of seabed currently held for exploration by ConocoPhillips.

The inquiry into seismic testing supported Mr Whish-Wilson’s suggestion that seismic testing for gas reserves off King Island be halted until the company behind it could prove the work will not harm rock lobster stocks.