Lobster fisher not happy in Victoria, but seems to be divided opinion as to it affect on whales.Lobster fisher Gary Ryan believes the public ought to know more about seismic surveying.
The technique involves shooting loud airwaves at the ocean floor to uncover subterranean oil and gas reserves.
"I just believe that if this was happening on land and the public could see the damage it was causing there would be an uproar," Mr Ryan said.
When energy giant Origin Energy decided to survey off the coast of Warrnambool in Victoria's south west in 2017, the community had little option but to accept it.
"At the time, we were compensated and it seemed like a reasonable figure," Mr Ryan said.
"But we accepted it because either we took it or we were going to get nothing."
University of Queensland associate professor Rebecca Dunlop says the science is complex.
She studied the effects of seismic surveying on migrating humpback whales, which pass through the waters near Warrnambool, and found there were no significant effects.
"We found no evidence that there were significant population-level consequences of disturbance so running a full seismic survey through a migrating population of humpback whales," Dr Dunlop said.
She said current scientific literature did not support making blanket statements on whether seismic was broadly harmful or not.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-07/seismic-survey-victoria-coast-after-industry-talks-break-down/102044910"One size does not fit all — it never will," she said.
