Council to Comment on Seismic Tests

by Laurie Schreiber

At its Dec. 4 meeting, the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) decided to seek an opportunity to comment on offshore seismic airgun testing for oil and gas exploration, approved off the East Coast from Delaware to Florida.

In November 2018, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued final authorizations under the Marine Mammal Protection Act “to incidentally, but not intentionally, harass marine mammals to companies proposing to conduct geophysical surveys in support of hydrocarbon exploration in the Atlantic Ocean,” according to a NMFS press release.

Efforts to explore for hydrocarbons using seismic testing were renewed in 2017 with Presidential Executive Order 13795, Implementing an America First Offshore Energy Strategy, which encourages energy exploration and production, according to the release.

The areas authorized for seismic tests in the Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic, not in New England, NEFMC staffer Michelle Bachman told NEFMC. But many species that utilize those areas are far-ranging.

“This is an area that should be of some concern to us in continuing to track it,” she said.

Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher said seismic testing is an issue that NEFMC should comment on, especially as the tests pertain to impacts on large whales.

“I’d urge this body to at least submit comments,” Keliher said.

According to an Oceana press release, seismic testing involves shooting loud blasts of compressed air through the ocean and miles under the seafloor every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, for days to weeks on end. The blasts can cause temporary and permanent hearing loss, abandonment of habitat, disruption of vital behaviors such as mating and feeding and beach strandings and deaths.