The fishing industry is embroiled in a battle to delay a seismic survey exercise planned for next month by a Norwegian company in Namibian waters since they regard the timing as coinciding with the peak of the fishing season.
Spectrum ASA, the company that is proposing to conduct a 2D seismic survey in the Orange Basin off the coast of Namibia, says the survey area would be approximately 1 485 km in length and cover about 26 500 km².
Persistence from the survey firm to carry out the test comes a few months after government endorsed a task force recommendation, which suggested that companies should refrain from carrying out off-shore exploration in February and March, which is the main season for tuna.
Seismic testing involves bouncing sound waves off undersea rock formations to detect oil and gas deposits.
The Namibian fishing industry and their line ministry also face another headache since there is a planned seismic survey planned for on the South
African side of the border next month by a joint venture between Cairn South Africa and South African state-owned Petroleum Oil and Gas Corporation of South Africa (PetroSA).
Although some companies are adamant to still carry out seismic surveys between the February and March period, the British exploration firm, Chariot Oil & Gas Limited, announced on Monday that they completed a 2 128 kilometre 2D month-long seismic survey in southern Namibia.
Director of Policy Planning and Economics at the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Anna Erastus, who headed the task force told The Namibian last year that there are fears seismic surveys may be responsible for a decline in the tuna haul, from 1 800 tonnes in 2012 to about 650 tonnes in 2013 compared to the 4 000 tonnes in 2011.
But an assessment commissioned by Spectrum ASA states that there is not sufficient proof of the effect of seismic surveys on tuna output. According to an executive summary of an environmental assessment impact report submitted to the Ministry of Mines and Energy by Spectrum ASA, the potential impact on the fishing industry was assessed to be “of low to very low significance with and without mitigation”.
“However, if fish avoid the survey area and /or change their feeding behaviour, it could have a more significant impact on the fishing industry,” reads the report, adding: “A simple correlation between seismic surveying in Namibia and reduced tuna catches can, however, not be inferred at this stage without also considering historical variations in the catch data, and more in-depth research is required.”
The assessment acknowledged, though, that there are currently concerns that seismic survey activities in southern Namibia are linked to reductions in tuna catches.
It seems the Ministry of Mines and Energy, which has been lobbying companies to carry out many seismic surveys as part of the task force that made the recommendations of halting explorations in February, did not agree with the suggestion that there should be no seismic surveys in February and March.
The ministry issued a press release at the end of last year, saying Namibia aspires to be an oil-producing country and therefore it is an “absolute must” that seismic surveys should be carried out.
Charlie Matengu, the spokesperson at the ministry of fisheries could not provide an update yesterday on their recent negotiations as all the committee members from his ministry involved in the seismic survey discussions are still on leave.
2014 The Namibian