By Stanley Tromp, Globe and Mail, 30 June, 2014
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The proponents of two
controversial pipelines to British Columbia's coast say they would consider
deploying underwater firecrackers, helicopters and clanging pipes, among other
methods, to ensure whales
don't swim toward any disastrous oil
spill that might result from
increased tanker traffic carrying bitumen to Asia.
It's called hazing and
documents obtained by The Globe and Mail show the methods have been studied
carefully by U.S. scientists before and since the disastrous Exxon Valdez oil spill killed 22 orcas in
1989. Last month, the Washington State Department of Ecology asked Trans
Mountain to describe any plans it might have to help whales in a spill. In the preamble to its request
filed with the National Energy Board, the department notes the proposed
expanded pipeline would contribute to "potential cumulative effects on sensory
disturbance," something that "was determined to be significant for
southern resident killer whales."
"NOAA [National Oceanic
Atmospheric Administration] identified oil spills as an acute extinction threat to the southern resident
killer whales," the
U.S. department says in its request for information from the pipeline project.
"Please describe any
Trans Mountain plans to minimize the direct acute threat to marine mammals in
general and southern resident killer whales in particular by applying techniques such as the use of
'hazing' to drive the animals out of areas heavily affected by surface oil slicks," says the request for information.
On June 18, Trans Mountain
replied that some hazing methods "have historically worked well with killer
whales," and it might
consider endorsing them in consultation with Canada's Department of Fisheries
and Oceans, the lead Canadian response agency.
"The need for and use of
marine mammal deterrence activities would be considered prior to or during emergency
response operations," Trans Mountain writes.
It then lists the techniques
that might be available, including fire hoses directing streams of water at whales, boat traffic to generate
noise, helicopters to make noise and stir up water and other acoustic
deterrents.
The response notes that NOAA
has approved use of metal pipes called Oikomi pipes
for noise and a kind of low-frequency bomb in the event of an oil spill, but Trans Mountain
cautions: "No single deterrence technique will work in all situations."
Northern Gateway's submission
to the National Energy Board last year discussed hazing for three pages, adding
"oil response plans
(including a marine mammal hazing plan) will be developed with DFO and
certified responders before operations."
Fisheries and Oceans did not
reply to The Globe's questions about hazing.
If both pipelines are
approved, tanker traffic plying the B.C. coast would increase by more than 600
ships a year, raising concerns from
aboriginals, environmentalists and U.S. officials about the increased potential for a spill on the
Pacific coast.
U.S. authorities have closely
examined hazing for years. One 1994 study found Oikomi
pipes - 2.4-metre-long reverberant metal pipes hung from a vessel and hit to produce a ringing sound -
could be deployed from
boats spaced 180 metres apart to create an acoustic
fence to move whales away.
Underwater firecrackers, also
called seal bombs, have also been studied. They are small explosives inside a cardboard
tube.
When weighted, set with an
eight-second fuse, and tossed into the sea, they sink and explode with an
acoustic signal.
A report of 1986 said they
have been used successfully in hazing non-whale marine species.
But despite all the studies,
Don Noviello, an oil spill response specialist at Washington State's
Department of Fish and Wildlife and author of reports on hazing, said it's not
clear whether the techniques will work.
"I am unaware that any whale hazing techniques have
been, or will be, scientifically tested on actual whales," Mr. Noviello
said.
Added Vancouver Aquarium whale specialist Lance BarrettLennard: "I do think that hazing might be
appropriate in some circumstances."
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