Stopping Seismic: The Great Ocean Rescue Tour

The Great Ocean Rescue Tour to stop seismic blasting in the Otway Basin rolled out across the southwest coast of Victoria over January, organised by OCEAN the Otway Coastal Environment Action Network. From Ocean Grove to Portland people marched, attended film screenings and signed petitions to protest against three proposals for seismic blasting off the southwest coast of Victoria. If all three proposals go ahead an area the size of Tasmania would be affected with a devastating impact on the marine environment.

Lisa Deppelertell founder of OCEAN and Mitch Pope, one of the coordinators of the Great Ocean Rescue Tour, tell us why the community is so opposed to seismic blasting in the Otway Basin and the actions being taking to have it stopped.

Laurie Laurenson, a marine biologist from the South-West Coast Scientific Group of the Clean Ocean Foundation discusses the Group's response to the Environment Plans submitted to the national regulator NOPSEMA by the three companies proposing to conduct seismic surveys and why they've recommended that they be rejected. Laurie describes the potential impact on the marine environment and how the loss of krill, a keystone species, will effect whales and other marine creatures.

To sign the petition or comment on the CGG Environment Plan before midnight Feb 26th,  go to the Australian Marine Conservation Society website

https://www.marineconservation.org.au/actions/stop-cgg-seismic-blasting-...

Music

Ocean by John Butler

Upwelling by Carli Reeve

Photo by Great Ocean Photography kindly provided by Mitch Pope

Produced by Judith Peppard

Earth Matters  #1441