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OTH-27 ACT end Special Prospecting Authorities OTH - Website
OTH-27 ACT end Special Prospecting Authorities OTH - Website
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Abolish seismic blasting Special Prospecting Authority permits (SPA)
Abolish seismic blasting Special Prospecting Authority permits (SPA)
Abolish seismic blasting Special Prospecting Authority permits (SPA)
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Abolish seismic blasting Special Prospecting Authority (SPA) permits
Dear Minister King, Seismic blasting companies are using a cheap and fast permit called a Special Prospecting Authority (SPA) to conduct some of the world’s largest seismic blasting projects in Australia's south-east oceans between Tasmania and Victoria. These south-east oceans are a hotspot for biodiversity. About 85% of fish, 95% of molluscs (like squid and nudibranchs), 90% of echinoderms (like starfish and sea urchins) and 65% of seaweeds that call the region home are found nowhere else on Earth. Vast, cheap, reckless seismic blasting projects enabled by SPAs put this iconic marine life at risk. If we lose these species here, they vanish forever. (1) Right now, multiple companies are planning to use SPA permits to conduct seismic blasting all over Australia's oceans, including in the highly biodiverse waters between Tasmania and Victoria. Seismic blasting has been connected to temporary and permanent hearing loss, habitat abandonment, mating and feeding disruption and possible death in marine mammals like whales, is linked to scallop deaths by compromising their immune systems, and has been found to irreversibly damage the organs of lobsters. Tasmanian research found seismic blasting also triggers extensive death in plankton and krill, two crucial foundations of marine food webs, from more than a kilometre away. (2, 3, 4, 5) After buying an SPA for just $8250, companies get the green light to conduct seismic blasting for 180 days at a time, including inside marine parks and over calving and feeding grounds for endangered whales. Unlike other title applications and assessments that NOPTA runs for approving permits for offshore exploration, companies seeking an SPA permit are not assessed as to their ‘fitness and proper standing’ or their criminal history as part of the decision making process. This is because applications for SPA permits are exempt from section 695YB of the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 (Cth) (OPGGS Act). Seismic blasting is the first step in expanding the fossil fuel industry in our oceans. Minister King, you have the power to protect our unique marine life from these fast, cheap, and harmful seismic blasting projects and the expansion of the fossil fuel industry. I call on you and the Australian Government to abolish Special Prospecting Authority permits. Sources: 1. ‘South-east marine region profile: A description of the ecosystems, conservation values and uses of the South-east Marine Region, Commonwealth of Australia 2015’, URL: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/south-east-marine-region-profile.pdf 2. ‘Impacts of anthropogenic noise on marine life: Publication patterns, new discoveries, and future directions in research and management’, 2015, URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096456911500160X 3. ‘Exposure to seismic air gun signals causes physiological harm and alters behavior in the scallop Pecten fumatus’, 2017, URL: https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1700564114 4. “Seismic air guns damage rock lobster mechanosensory organs and impair righting reflex” 2019, URL: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2019.1424 5. ‘Widely used marine seismic survey air gun operations negatively impact zooplankton”, 2017, URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-017-0195
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