NMFS Authorizes Seismic Survey off the New Jersey Coast

For Immediate Release

May 29, 2015

Contact Jeff Tittel, 609-558-9100

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has issued an Incidental Harassment Authorization (Authorization) to Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (Lamont-Doherty), a component of Columbia University, in collaboration with Rutgers University and the National Science Foundation (NSF), to take marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to conducting a marine geophysical (seismic) survey in the northwest Atlantic Ocean off the New Jersey coast June through August, 2015. The Sierra Club opposes any and all plans to undertake seismic testing along the Atlantic coastline, which in the final analyses would lead to future oil and gas exploration and extraction.

“We oppose this seismic testing. It will cause to marine life and the environment. This gives a new meaning to having a blast at the Jersey shore,” said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We’re disappointed that Rutgers is going forward with this test that was stopped last year. They should be working to protect the environment, not harassing sea animals. It will cause harm to the environment and fisheries. There are other ways to collect data without threatening marine mammals.”

Lamont-Doherty proposes to conduct a high-energy, 3-dimensional (3- D) seismic survey on the R/V Marcus G. Langseth (Langseth) in the northwest Atlantic Ocean approximately 25 to 85 kilometers (km) (15.5 to 52.8 miles [mi]) off the New Jersey coast for approximately 30 days from June 1 to August 31, 2015. Increased underwater sound generated during the operation of the seismic airgun arrays has the potential to take marine mammals. 246 decibels every five to six seconds for 24 hours a day for 30 days would disrupt almost 18,457 marine animals including 12,500 dolphins.

“Imagine having an underwater fireworks display going off around you 24/7 for 30 days. This is what it would be like for marine mammals, especially dolphins. This testing not only harasses the animals but cause severe damage and can even lead to mass strandings and possibly death. This is worse than harassment; it can lead to sever problems with marine animals, especially dolphins. There are better and safer ways to get the data we need,” said Jeff Tittel. “Imagine if your neighbor set off fireworks every five seconds next to you for a month.”

Seismic testing poses many impacts, with the use of air gun blasts shown to disrupt marine life and animals. Seismic testing has been known to be harmful to marine life by damaging their hearing causing major injuries or even death. Over 30 species will be harassed during this testing period including endangered whale species. This study is being proposed during migration and breeding of dolphins, whose population has been affected by a virus. In addition to seismic testing another device is being proposed for the study, multibeam echosounder, which is also harmful to marine life and has been implicated to a whale stranding in Madagascar.

This testing will not only impact marine mammals, but fish as well, threatening our fishing industry during important summer months. Seismic airguns have also been shown to reduce catch rates of certain fisheries. This could impact both our commercial and recreational fishing industry. We are also concerned that the public information gathered from this study could be used by the oil and gas companies to search for oil deposits opening up our coast to oil drilling. Drilling off our coast could have devastating impacts not only for our marine environment, but for our coastal communities and economies.

“We believe the Christie Administration should not let this go unchallenged. We are calling on the Administration to challenge this decision and block the testing from going forward like they did last year in court,” said Tittel.

The purpose of the survey is allegedly to collect and analyze data on the arrangement of sediments deposited during times of changing global sea level from roughly 60 million years ago to present. Lamont-Doherty's claims that their proposed seismic survey is purely scientific in nature and not related to oil and natural gas exploration on the outer continental shelf of the Atlantic Ocean. Any data collected from this study could be put towards oil and gas drilling.

“We would be helping oil and gas companies by giving them this data that they can use to drill off of our coast. Any potential drilling is a threat to New Jersey beaches. Instead of putting our coast and economies at risk of being polluted by an oil spill we should be investing in renewable energy. We have to explore new technologies for wind and wave power and remove obstacles that stand in the way of clean energy,” said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.

This decision is currently open for public comment.