Demonstrating an acceptable level of impact: an assessment of noise impacts to fishes from a seismic survey in an Australian Marine Park
Joe Edgell A D , Jeremy Colman A , Samantha Jarvis B and Ollie Glade-Wright CA ERM Australia Pty Ltd, Level 18, 140 St George’s Terrace, Perth, WA 6000, Australia.
B S2 Services Pty Ltd, 7 Chilton St, Willagee, WA 6156, Australia.
C Cooper Energy, Level 8, 70 Franklin Street, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: joe.edgell@erm.com
E Presenter only: Bethan Parnum. Email: bethan.parnum@erm.com
The APPEA Journal 59(1) 70-81 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ18152
Submitted: 21 January 2019 Accepted: 7 March 2019 Published: 17 June 2019
Abstract
A key challenge of the environmental regulatory framework for offshore petroleum activities in Australia is the requirement to demonstrate acceptability, with the legislation placing the onus on petroleum titleholders to demonstrate that the impacts and risks posed by an activity will be of an acceptable level and reduced to as low as reasonably practicable. This paper presents a case study on the assessment of noise impacts to fishes for the Bethany 3D Marine Seismic Survey, which was acquired by Santos Ltd in mid-2018. The survey area was encompassed entirely by the Oceanic Shoals Marine Park, and also overlapped a significant proportion of the Timor Reef Fishery, a regionally important demersal scalefish fishery. The survey area overlapped a key ecological feature and a range of geomorphic features characterised by benthic habitats supporting demersal and benthic fish communities, including site-attached species. On this basis, the evaluation of impacts and risks required a multi-faceted approach, with seven key elements: (1) acoustic modelling; (2) application of sound exposure guidelines; (3) a quantitative risk assessment (benthic habitat predictive modelling and spatial analysis of site-attached fish assemblages); (4) the definition of an acceptable level of impact; (5) a sound source verification process; (6) engagement with key stakeholders; and (7) an independent, expert peer review process. The outcomes of each of these steps were incorporated into the environment plan, and enabled the titleholder to demonstrate that, with adopted control measures in place, environmental impacts and risks from the seismic survey could be managed to an acceptable level.
Keywords: demonstration of acceptable level, environment plan, marine seismic survey, NOPSEMA, Oceanic Shoals Marine Park, site-attached fish assemblages, sound exposure guidelines, sound source verification, stakeholder engagement, Timor Reef Fishery, underwater noise impact assessment.
Joe Edgell graduated from the University of Southampton in 2009 with an MSc in Environmental Coastal Engineering. His working career spans 10 years as an environmental consultant delivering environmental approvals and supporting compliance for marine energy and resource projects in Europe, Australia and SE Asia. Since joining ERM as a Senior Environmental Consultant in Perth in 2012, Joe has worked on a wide range of projects with an increasing focus on the assessment of underwater noise impacts and development of environment plans (EPs) for oil and gas exploration, development and production activities. Joe has successfully developed titleholders’ approaches to presenting impact and risk evaluations, including demonstration of ALARP and acceptable levels, as well as supporting titleholders with EP implementation and compliance. |
Jeremy Colman graduated from the University of Bristol in 1983 with a BSc in Zoology, and was awarded a PhD from the University of Wales in 1987. He is a highly experienced environmental consultant with over 30 years of experience in marine research, biodiversity conservation, protected area management and impact assessment. Jeremy has worked on a wide variety of projects both in Australia and worldwide. After a nine-year period working for Woodside, and 10 years of running his own consultancy business, he joined the ERM Perth office as a technical director in 2017. Jeremy has been a technical adviser and author on several seismic environment plans around Australia, supporting engagement with NOPSEMA and implementation of EP commitments. He is a member of the Royal Society of Western Australia. |
Samantha Jarvis graduated from Murdoch University with a BSc in Biology. Samantha is an environment professional with over 20 years of experience in mining and onshore and offshore oil and gas. She has held lead environmental roles in major oil and gas companies where she has worked in a wide variety of offshore and onshore operations and has led environmental approval teams for development and exploration programs within Australia and internationally. Samantha has an extensive understanding of oil and gas environmental impacts and risk from her hands-on experience on onshore and offshore operations facilities, onshore and offshore drill rigs and seismic, inspection and support vessels. Samantha currently runs her own business and supports several oil and gas companies developing and implementing EPs. |
Oliver Glade-Wright graduated from Flinders University in 2003 with a BSc in Marine Biology. He is an environmental professional with over 15 years of experience working in the petroleum, mining and marine consulting industries in operational and leadership roles. Oliver has extensive experience in environmental impact assessment, approvals, implementation and monitoring programs. He has managed environmental teams for petroleum exploration and development activities around Australia. After six years at Santos coordinating and implementing environmental approvals and leading regulatory and stakeholder liaison, Oliver joined Cooper Energy as Environment Manager in 2018. |
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