IWC Calls for Reduced Oil Industry Air Gun Impact

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An international whaling body Monday called for the oil and gas industry to find ways to reduce the impact on marine species of seismic air guns, which use noise loud enough to cross entire oceans in the search for oil.

FRIGATE BAY, St. Kitts and Nevis — An international whaling body Monday called for the oil and gas industry to find ways to reduce the impact on marine species of seismic air guns, which use noise loud enough to cross entire oceans in the search for oil.


The International Whaling Commission, or IWC, acknowledged that the air guns were a possible threat to whales, dolphins, squid and other species in the world's oceans, and called for more research and for "mitigation" procedures to be developed.


The guns, which are used to map potential oil and gas deposits in the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea, Australia's Northwest Shelf and elsewhere, were found to damage hearing, migratory patterns and to reduce fish catches.


"The idea that sound-sensitive species can co-exist with this is simply incredible," said Joel Reynolds of the Natural Resources Defense Council, lauding the step taken by the IWC.


He said the noise generated was so explosive that the sound of an air gun used off the coast of California traveled all the way to Asia.


The report and recommendations on air guns from the IWC's scientific committee were unanimously endorsed at the commission's annual meeting taking place in the Caribbean island state of St. Kitts and Nevis.


U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil Corp., which is represented at the IWC as a non-governmental organization, said the images of the subsurface created by seismic surveys were "critical in the search for tomorrow's oil and gas resources."


"We are not aware that these surveys have ever resulted in physical injury or adversely affected any marine mammal population," the company said in a statement distributed in St. Kitts.


But Exxon said that it and other energy companies had set up an $8 million research program to investigate the impact of the air guns.


Source: Reuters


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