Offshore Seismic Testing and Marine Life

Although offshore oil drilling has been put on the back burner for the next five years, the rising threat to marine life lingers along the east coast.

Seismic testing in the Atlantic Ocean is the precursor to offshore drilling, according to Oceana, the largest international ocean conservation and advocacy organization.

Geophysical companies use seismic airgun blasts to help determine the most beneficial area off the coast to drill for oil. These blasts of compressed air that go off underwater every seven to 16 seconds for days, weeks or months could injure as many as 138,000 whales and dolphins along with other marine mammals, according to Oceana.

These marine mammals and fish rely on their ability to hear for survival. Basic needs such as hunting for food, communication, navigation and reproduction are all dependent on their hearing capacity, according to Oceana.

"These sound waves can completely distort their ability to assess the surrounding environment," said Ed McGinley, an assistant professor in the Natural Science department at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida.

The intensity of the seismic blasts was compared to standing 100 feet away from a jet on a tarmac, McGinley said.

"I don’t think you can do this type of testing and not have a severe impact on the environment," McGinley said. "There's going to be vast amounts of marine life lost if they do this."

The scheduled use of airgun blasting is threatening to coastal city's everyday life also. Commercial and recreational fisheries along with coastal employment and tourism are at risk as well.

In the state of Florida, there are government officials willing to work with the public on protecting the coast's marine life and local fisheries from the effects of seismic testing.

Bill Nelson, the senior United States Senator from Florida, has devoted time against seismic testing and exploring for oil in Florida.

"It's an essential to preserve our marine ecosystems and the fishing economies in Florida," said a representative from the senator's office. "We oppose anything that would go against commercial and recreational fisheries."

Over 92,000 recreational and commercial fishing jobs in the state of Florida could be impacted by airguns or drilling along the east coast along with 293,385 ocean-based tourism jobs, according to Oceana.

"No one's going to want to live in an area where dead dolphins and whales wash up," McGinley said.

Seismic testing and its detrimental effect on marine life could be more of an issue in coastal cities further up along the east coast, according to John Jaeger, an associate professor of Geology at the University of Florida.

"In general, Florida's geological history is not one that would suggest we have a large amount of petroleum in our surrounding areas," Jaeger said. "As you go further up the coast there's a greater likelihood for finding those types of rocks."

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) receives many permit requests for seismic testing by geophysical companies. There are seven pending permits for testing along the east coast and one permit issued in July, according to BOEM.

The proposed area for upcoming testing stretches from Delaware to central Florida with an area twice the size of California, according to maps published by Oceana.

After this past election, local environmental activist groups have been yearning for President Obama to go the extra mile and completely take oil exploration off the table before his term is up.

"We want President Obama to permanently protect the Atlantic Ocean along the east coast," said Hunter Miller, a member of St. Augustine's Environmental Youth Council (EYC). "That's the ultimate goal."

Hunter Miller received an award of excellence from Oceana in Washington D.C. for EYC's fight against seismic testing and offshore drilling.

A Trump presidency brings every fossil fuel extraction project to the forefront of what's important because the president-elect is a climate change denier, Miller said. Environmental activist groups are advocating for alternative energy sources and hope to have the power of organization on their side.

"A lot of people get disenfranchised about activism," said Miller. "But the power of organization and building a broad coalition of people to affect change is very great."

In a perfect world, the shift to cleaner renewable energy sources to protect marine life would be painless and simple, but unfortunately, the complete switch to wind and solar energy is not feasible, McGinley said.

"There are strides we could take to lessen our dependence on fossil fuels, especially in places like Florida, called the Sunshine State," said McGinley. "We need to make a massive investment in renewable energy, but until we get politicians that are readily able to accept the science at the time, I don't foresee a huge investment coming."

If local communities feel that they would prefer not to have these surveys done, they need to make sure their voices are heard by the federal government, Jaeger said.

"We only get one shot at this," McGinley said. "There's not another Earth we can go to."