At the moment, a giant seismic survey ship is operating off the coast of New Zealand. It will be firing extremely loud seismic blasts into the seabed every 10 seconds for up to three months in an effort to find oil. But Greenpeace may have found a way of stopping it:
At the rally, Greenpeace will announce legal proceedings seeking a declaration that Schlumberger requires an additional permit from DOC under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), and without it, must stop seismic blasting. Greenpeace understands the company has only been granted a permit by the Ministry of Energy under the Crown Minerals Act.
Anyone undertaking activities that could disturb marine mammals, including whales, must seek a permit under the MMPA, says Greenpeace campaigner Kate Simcock. She says there is clear evidence that seismic exploration disturbs and even injures whales.
Schlumberger’s operation will see it firing seismic blasts into the seabed to search for oil every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, for up to three months.
"The impacts on blue whales in this area are likely to be torturous, interfering with their communication and feeding," Simcock says.
The Marine Mammal Protection Act prohibits "taking" any marine mammal without a permit. "Taking" includes to harass or disturb, and the regulations governing ordinary interactions with whales, dolphins and seals make it clear that loud noises are contemplated as a disturbance. Those regulations are aimed at hoons in boats and sorts of noises they could make. But the Amazon Warrior will be doing something much more severe: constant and extremely loud noise pollution in the whales' habitat. In other words, constant disturbance and harassment.
The MMPA trumps other laws, so any approval under the Crown Minerals or EEZ Acts doesn't permit this harassment. The issue for the court then will be whether the extreme levels of underwater noise generated by the seismic survey process disturb or harass whales - and if there's an arguable case, whether they need to injunct it to prevent a breach of the law . Of course, the Amazon Warrior could apply for a permit, but this both means that DoC gets to decide whether they can survey, and effectively admitting that they have already committed a criminal offence. Either way, its going to be interesting. And no doubt, we'll see the dying fossil fuel industry wailing for another regulatory subsidy to exempt them from a law that everyone else has to follow.
