Image: Revista Puerto / FIS

Offshore exploration: the Phoenix Project will affect the king crab fishery

ARGENTINA
Thursday, April 27, 2023, 01:00 (GMT + 9)

This is a concrete example of negative impact on hydrocarbon activity. The million-dollar biological and economic impacts for the companies that depend on this resource have not been duly considered in the environmental impact study presented by the Total Austral oil company. Yesterday was the public hearing.

In view of the recent public hearing No. 1/23 convened for April 26 in order to put the documentation of the Environmental Impact Assessment of the Project "Fénix en Cuenca Marina Austral (CMA1)" into consideration of the public. We believe it is important and necessary to clarify some issues.

Source: Total Energies

As indicated in the Environmental Impact Study (EsIA) developed by the Ezcurra & Schmidt Consulting Firm (ESSA), Fénix is a gas field located in the Austral Basin, facing Tierra del Fuego. It is located about 60 kilometers from the coast at a depth of about 70 meters. The current exploitation project of Total Austral for which the Public Hearing has been called includes the installation of a platform, the drilling of 3 wells, the installation of a 36 km pipeline to an existing platform and the new one to be installed, the subsequent exploitation of the 3 drilled wells and the abandonment of the works once the exploitation period ended. The installation of the platform and pipes and the start of exploitation have been planned for the term of almost two years, beginning in August 2023.

The installation of the platform and the laying of the pipes is a complex and demanding process for a significant number of vessels operating in the area, both in the specific tasks of construction, drilling and laying of pipes, which implies that an area must be reserved of exclusion specifically for this task, where no ship other than it can operate or navigate.

The main expected impact on the biological components of the ecosystem is due to two main factors: drilling mud discharged into seawater and noise from the implantation of piles and other structures, as well as the operation of machinery in the area.

Source: Total Energies

The Environmental Impact Study prepared by ESSA recognizes that given the activities of the ships and machinery, the production of hazardous waste is expected. The drilling process uses special clay muds mixed with chemical additives to water or oil and pumped downhole through the drill pipe to cool the bit.

These drilling fluids are then discarded into the sea, and when dissolved and deposited on the bottom, they generate a layer of sediments that affects the biota, especially sedentary species (which in many cases are food for crabs) and other components of the Benthos with little mobility, such as benthic crustaceans. This is recognized in the EsIA, when it indicates that the impacts on different components of the benthos and crab in particular, for example, will be important, being classified as "severe" and/or "moderate".

However, there are other factors whose impact on the crab fishery in the area will be more than significant and was not properly evaluated in the EsIA: during the construction and laying of pipes, the navigation of other vessels is prohibited in an area of two nautical miles around the platform and along the pipes, which will result in a closed area for fishing operations, while the installation of said structures lasts, for at least two years. And what is even worse; once the exploitation stage has begun, no fishing activity (bottom trawling or trap line setting) may be carried out within a radius of one mile around the platform and on each side of the pipes throughout their entire length.

Source: Revista Puerto / Wiki / FIS

However, the area in question completely overlaps with the current main fishing ground for king crab (Lithodes santolla) off the coast of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. In this fishing ground, specific vessels operate for the exploitation of crabs, which have no other exploitation alternative. In particular, one of the vessels, the Chiyo Maru 3, only has authorization to catch crab in national waters in that sector. Crab fishing occurs using lines between 3,200 and 4,000 meters in length, equipped with 120 traps each.

During the last 3 seasons, from 2020/21 to 2022/23, the catch in this area was 630 tons of commercial size king crab. The main fishing zones totally overlap with the area of the Fénix Project. Therefore, fishing vessels will be denied access to the main fishing ground while construction lasts, and future activity will be severely reduced due to the laying of pipelines (new and existing ones).

Photos: Revista Puerto / Government of Argentina -->

A quick calculation of the area, close to being unaffected for fishing (in the main crab fishing ground of the Management Zone known as Zone S II), implies that for the next two years some 290 km2 will be added to the areas where they are not. neither fishing nor anchoring operations can be carried out, and that the total area closed to fishing when the exploitation of the Fénix well begins will be about 700 km2 (around the 6 existing platforms and laying of about 172 linear km of pipes), all of this in the most productive fishing ground in sector S II.

Despite this, the EsIA prepared by ESSA only admits a moderate impact for fishing activities. It may be moderate in the context of fishing in the entire Argentine Sea, but for the companies that catch crab, and in particular for the vessel that is only authorized to fish in that area, the impact will be very high.

Economic valuation of the damage

Beyond the negative impact that the Fénix Project may have on fishing resources and habitat in the area of direct influence, which in the best of cases may be a temporary impact, both on the crab population and on other resources fishing boats that inhabit the area, there will be a direct and concrete impact on the companies that will not be able to operate in this sector on the most important fishing grounds in the next two years and will see their access limited from then on.

In the first case, economic valuation for environmental damage is difficult to carry out, although we understand that it is evident, but in the second, because it is a specific and determined access limitation, it is possible to carry out a valuation of economic damage for the costs, losses and damages caused to the companies that fish in this zone.

Considering the two years that the construction of the structures and the laying of the pipes will last, which will imply a sector closed to fishing of about 290 km2, the area covered by a fishing line, the average capture of commercial males in each line , the average weight of the commercial males and their yield in product (clusters), as well as the export price of the product, results, only in the case of a vessel like the Chiyo Maru 3, a loss of income of about 1.6 millions of dollars.

Although the catches may be partly compensated by operating in alternative fishing grounds in neighboring areas, these have much lower productivity, so operating costs will increase significantly in relation to production.

Chiyo Maru 3. Photo: video Info3Noticias

It is clear, then, that Total Austral's Fénix Project will produce very significant damage, at least for a fishing company whose vessel can only operate in that sector. And this damage will translate not only into economic losses for the company, but also for each of the workers who directly or indirectly depend on the capture of the mentioned vessel.

Given this, one can only wonder why the valuation of direct economic damage was not incorporated into the EsIA? How do you contemplate remedying said monetary damage? Is it acceptable for a company (Total Austral) to reserve an area of about 700 km2 in one of the main fishing grounds in the area without considering or compensating for the impact on third parties?

The above constitutes an alarming consequence that is added to the projects approved to date, this as a consequence of the deficient approach that the Ministry of Environment has maintained in the analysis of one of the fundamental pillars of sustainable development, the economic and social aspect. In short, a project that does not specifically consider the economic damage caused to a part or all of society, and in which actions are not carried out to compensate it, should be rejected, without further ado.

Source: Revista Puerto

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