SEISMIC OCEAN BLASTING TO BEGIN ON JUNE 3---15 miles off Barnegat Inlet

[dfish28]

I heard that North Dakota has the largest oil deposit in all the world yet we are not drilling as much as we could, and still importing... This all makes soooo much sense...

http://m.startribune.com/?id=205468311

[GDubya07]

This will not be good at all

We will still overfish - Guarenteed - with even less fish to catch

GDubs-

[MrAC1980]

Greattttt... Another one of Gov's way of wasting money and f'in up more shit!

[Bob T.]

The more I look into this the worse it sounds.

Seismic airguns are used to find oil and gas deep underneath the ocean floor. Airguns are so loud that they disturb, injure or kill marine life, harm commercial fisheries, and disrupt coastal economies. These dynamite-like blasts—which are repeated every ten seconds, 24 hours a day, for days and weeks at a time—are 100,000 times more intense than a jet engine. Seismic airgun testing currently being proposed in the Atlantic will injure 138,500 whales and dolphins and disturb millions more, according to government estimates.



Seismic airguns are towed behind ships and shoot loud blasts of compressed air through the water and miles into the seabed, which reflect back information about buried oil and gas deposits. These blasts harm marine mammals, sea turtles, fish and other wildlife.

Impacts include temporary and permanent hearing loss, abandonment of habitat, disruption of mating and feeding, and even beach strandings and death. For whales and dolphins, which rely on their hearing to find food, communicate, and reproduce, being able to hear is a life or death matter.

Airgun blasts kill fish eggs and larvae and scare away fish from important habitats. Following seismic surveys catch rates of cod and haddock declined by 40 to 80 percent for thousands of miles.

In addition to being devastating for marine life, seismic airguns are the first step toward dangerous and dirty offshore drilling with associated habitat destruction, oil spills and contribution to climate change and ocean acidification.

Oceana is working to halt the use of seismic airguns, and stop the expansion of dangerous offshore drilling.

[jmurr711]

We all gotta work together to stop this nonsense

[SaltLife1980]

This will not end good.. that amount of decibels is really going to impact the fishing... its going to push the fish away from the area.. This is a joke.. What a load of crap!

[howarda780]

I don't know if this is going to do any good. I just saw this on FB.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/230/0...ast-this-june/

[DoubleBarrel]

This will unquestionably have a materially negative impact on local fisheries this summer. Why you ask, did they chose this time frame? So they wouldn't have to test when its cold and conditions are less than comfortable.

If anyone believes this won't have an impact on not just migratory species and seasonal/resident fish we target make sure to count how many whales & dolphins you see this summer etc., they are kidding themselves. I don't think one needs to be doomsday predictor to say this is just another in a long line of asinine decisions to come out of this administration.

As with anything, it's great to express concerns here, but its even better to take action. Its been my experience with Congressman Pallone that he's responsive to inquiries and concerns:

https://pallone.house.gov/contact-me

Truly a sad and utterly moronic state of affairs!