Community
25 January, 2024
Rally against seismic blast
HUNDREDS of surfers and spectators gathered at Warrnambool’s waterfront earlier this month to highlight their objection to proposed seismic blasts directly off the coast.
The Great Ocean Rescue tour, an initiative of OCEAN (Otway Coastal Environment Action Network), included a peaceful rally and ‘paddle out’ at Warrnambool.
OCEAN is a network of community groups along the west coast of Victoria opposing seismic blasting and new gas in the offshore Otway Basin.
The four-week long ‘Great Ocean ‘Rescue Tour’ was timed to coincide with the summer tourist season along the Great Ocean Road and aimed to raise awareness of what the group believes is the destructive effects of seismic blasting.
The rally and paddle out in Warrnambool saw hundreds of surfers and spectators rally at Warrnambool’s waterfront to express their objection to the two current proposals to seismic blast over 4.5 million hectares directly off their coast.
According to a statement released by the group, the City of Warrnambool takes in Logan Beach, a critical calving ground for the endangered Southern Right Whale.
Over 200 people took to the water on surfboards to show their support for an ocean free of seismic blasting.
“The vast majority of Australian people have no idea what seismic blasting is, nor the devastation it causes to our marine-life,” OCEAN campaigner Lisa Deppeler said.
“It’s time to blow the lid on this awful secret and that is the objective of the Great Ocean Road Tour.”
‘No More Gas’ campaigner for Friends of the Earth Melbourne, Freja Leonard, spoke of the dangers to the ocean and climate if seismic blasting is allowed to go ahead in the Southern Ocean.
“By the time the blasting is done and the gas is drilled, over a decade will have passed and the next decade is critical for climate action,” she said.
The tour kicked off in Barwon Heads on January 5 with a screening of the Surfrider Foundation documentary, SouthernBlast, followed the next day by a street rally in Ocean Grove.
Subsequent screenings and rallies were held in Torquay, Wye River, Apollo Bay and Port Fairy before coming to Warrnambool.
The tour will end in Portland on January 27.
