Paper Example on Great Australian Bight and Its Impacts on Marine Life and Resources

The document is well researched from a widespread number of professionals having real grounded basis of reasoning. For this reason, I therefore find this document reliable. In addition, it is reliable based on the fact that the information provided are scientific and can be proven for validity. The primary topic of emphasis in the article, concerns the Great Australian Bight and the general surrounding including its impacts on marine life and resources. It is an important area that todays environmentalists have been interested to unfold with regard to the Implications of the Mexican Spillage in 2010. And therefore, the information offered by the article can be sued as base research to carry out other research so as to fill the possible and existing gaps.

Key Findings: Reliability:

This is a government document regarding the Great Australian Bight Marine Park, which is part of Australias National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA). This park is located in the Great Australian Bight stretching from 200 kilometres west of Ceduna in South Australia following the coast to the Western Australian border and its purpose is to ensure conservation of ecosystems that are characteristic of the Great Australian Bight region.

This source provides information about the unique factors that contribute to the high level of biodiversity and endemism in the region, including oceanography, geological isolation, a persistent high-energy environment, warm water intrusion via the Leeuwin current from Western Australia, and cold-water, nutrient-rich upwelling in the east.

Other topics covered were mining operations, acoustic disturbance and pollution. Some noteworthy facts were: - The hydrocarbon and mineral potential within the Great Australian Bight Marine Park is still largely unexplored, although considered to offer one of the most prospective frontier petroleum areas currently available to the industry (Hill 1999) - Several exploration wells have been drilled in the Bight. Two of these wells, Potoroo 1 and Apollo 1, drilled and capped before the park was proclaimed, are located within the Benthic Protection Zone. In 2003 Woodside Energy drilled an exploratory well about 50 kilometres east of the Benthic Protection Zone in waters over 1300 metres deep. Further exploration is expected in the future - Cetaceans may be especially susceptible to noise due to their reliance upon sound for communication, prey detection and orientation (Reeves 1992) - Studies have linked cetacean standings with low frequency seismic and industrial noise (Frantzis 1988, Simmonds and Mayer 1997). - The inshore sites presently favoured for calving, are most vulnerable to marine pollution from the south and south-west, due to prevailing winds and currents - Dolphins are considered to have the ability to detect and avoid petroleum hydrocarbons (Overton et al. 1994) - Inhalation of the toxic volatile fractions of oil may produce a variety of problems for these air-breathing mammals, including permanent damage to respiratory surfaces (Overton et al. 1994) - During drilling the fluid and cuttings are generally discharged to sea, where they fall to the seabed and disperse. - Abandoned wells are plugged w. concrete and thus should not seep

The article also provides information regarding economic gains of the people in the region has also resulted to the negative implication of the life of the observed animals such as the Dolphins and the Whales, research holds that most of the marine life that are captured end up dying posing an international threat. Wastages and other disposals from the marine personnel create a negative impact to the Animals in the sense that, they pollute hence affecting the lives of the animals negatively This document should be reliable as it is a Government document containing factual information including referenced information from scientific studies. Since this is a document about facts, rather than political opinions then this information should all be reliable, however it may still contain come bias. Essentially though its purpose is to provide information on maintaining ecological processes and systems and protect Australias biodiversity.

While it was originally written in 2005, it the information should not be out-dated as the forward claims This document has been produced to convey up-to-date information about the values and uses of the Park and surrounding environment.

Validity:

This document spoke largely about the geographical and biological features of the Bight. This was helpful to understand the system of a whole. Specific topics relevant to my research question such as acoustic disturbance, mining operations and pollution were useful however this source also contained irrelevant topics (i.e. tourism)

Capability:

This source provided me with factual information about the Great Australian Bight Marine Park. It helped me to understand ethical concepts and issues, which are very different to the ones in the previous source. It is difficult to sustain this natural pristine environment if the exploratory wells continue to be drilled, let alone if permission is granted for oil drilling to take place. How can these two environments go hand in hand?

Knowledge and Skills

In order to use this source effectively, I have cross-referenced with other sources to confirm information. On a wider note, I carried out an extensive research on the available literature regarding the impacts of the human activities especially oil drilling on the marine biodiversity and ecosystem at large. Reaching out to various experts within this area of study also facilitated my understanding on this issue. I was able to find out if the information obtained here were reliable.

Source 2:

Reference: Research Process:

BP Environmental Plan Preparation

Reliability:

One again this source was written by BP while they were trying to gain approval to drill in the Great Australian Bight so it will likely be biased, however this time, due to its nature and purpose, BP cannot avoid discussing the significant environmental risks involved in oil drilling. The information should be factually correct as it was gathered in an Environmental Impact Identification (ENVIID) workshop conducted late Sept 2014 to identify potential impacts, existing and recommended mitigation measures. However, once again this was done on BPs biased terms with BP potentially biased researchers. Additionally, in order to gain approval BP needed to present an environmental plan to NOPSEMA however they were only required to release an overview of this information to the public. With no legal requirements to include certain information, many details have been left out, skipped over or talked down.

Key Findings: Validity

This is an overview of BPs environmental plan, which was a requirement to gain approval to drill in the Great Australian Bight. The whole document isnt available to the public

In this overview, BP enlisted GAB sensitivities as threatened and migratory species (Sperm Whales, Fin Whales, Southern Right Whale, Australian Sea Lions and Seals, Southern Bluefin Tuna, Blue Whale, Birds and White Sharks), Environmental Sensitivities (important foraging areas, the central and western ecosystems of the Shelf Transition, the easternmost ecosystems, ancient coastline, and benthic invertebrate communities) and Socio-Economic sensitivities (Fishing industry, tourism, and heritage and cultural)

This report outlines identification of specific aspects that could cause a potential impact and the mitigation measures BP have designed to manage the impacts. These aspects are waste management, discharge of cuttings and drilling muds, underwater sound, chemical discharge, invasive species and oil spills. While the mitigation measures minimise the impact of each aspect, none of the issues are solved nor are they required to be. In order to gain approval for drilling BP needed to present an environmental plan addressing all significant risks and demonstrating that those risks are simply as low as reasonably practical

This source was produced when BP were seeking approval to drill in the Bight, so this source also consists largely of BPs plans to drill and the processes, procedures, economic gain and environmental risks involved.

Capability

This environmental plan was part of the application process for BP; it seems unethical that all of this information in its entirety is not presented for public view. It raises suspicions with environmental groups and community organisations as to what extent they are able to manage an oil spill. The public then have relied on NOPSEMA to ensure that BP do everything possible to save the environment and the bottlenose dolphin in the event of an oil spill.

Knowledge and Skills

I was able to look through a couple of the related literature review research on the similar topics as mine. I have synthesised the information and summarised them so as to see if offers an information reflected to my area of study.

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Source 3:

Reference: Research Process:

Peter Owen

South Australian Director at the Wilderness Society

The article offers a greater insight regarding the oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. Through this article, I have come to understand that oceanic system within the Bight is very unique. It is off the end of the continental shelf theres huge, deep water chunks up that drive nutrient rich water to the surface thats full of plankton, thats feeds the whales and the other fish species. The information and data offered greatly enables me to reflect on the possible findings in regard to my research question.

Key Findings: Reliability:

- Sea Shepard raised and paid $40,000 for the leading experts and oceanographers to develop oil spill modelling after having asked BP to provide it and have them fail to inform the community about what the magnitude and potential risk is that oil drilling was bringing down on us

- Within months of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster the Australian Government sold leases to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight

- Exploration drilling is where it all went wrong in the Gulf of Mexico

- The oceanic system within the Bight is very unique. Its off the end of the continental shelf theres huge, deep water chunks up that drive nutrient rich water to the surface thats full of plankton, thats feeds the whales and the other fish species.

- There is no oil and gas industry in this part of the world

- Gulf of Mexico occurred in the heart of probably the most established oil field in the world, in a big sheltered gulf with all of the infrastructure to deal with that disaster and it still took them 87 days to stop it

- In the Great Australian Bight, theres no infrastructure to stop it.

- BP had proposed to have what is called a capping stack (essentially a big industrial plate to plug the hole) stacked in Singa...