King Island fisherman Paul Jordan says a proposed seismic survey off the island's west coast is too much of a big unknown.
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"It terrifies me," he said.
"The testing vessels have to stop if they spot a whale or dolphin and that's a red flag in my mind.
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"All the evidence suggests that it's fairly detrimental to the life cycle of rock lobster and many other marine organisms in the water columns."
He said he was "more than happy" that the council was submitting its views on the proposed seismic testing.
"We've got no guarantees with it at this stage. The industry needs financial guarantees to some degree, that if our livelihood is disrupted that we'd be compensated for as many years as it takes for marine life to recover," he said.
King Island mayor Julie Arnold said the council would be seeking a temporary halt to the survey planned by ConocoPhillips Australia SH1, until the Senate report into the impacts of seismic testing on fisheries and the marine environment was published.
"The council wants a moratorium," she said.
The company wants to look for gas reserves in the Otway Basin, in an operational area of 4089 square kilometres, just 23.5 kilometres off the King Island west coast.
It has applied to the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority to do the Sequioa 3D marine seismic survey from August 1 to October 31.
"There are 19 rock lobster fishing vessels in our island fleet all owned and operated by locals with many passed from generation to generation," the submission said.
"Any negative impact to this industry would have an exponential negative consequence on our island community.
"We are eagerly awaiting the March 2021 report of the Environment and Communications References Committee's inquiry into the impacts of seismic testing on fisheries and the marine environment.
"A high level review of the submissions made to that inquiry to date saw a conspicuous trend towards the negative impacts of seismic testing on marine invertebrates and the marine environment overall.
"Almost all submissions that refer to scientific research agree that insufficient research exists to categorically define the long term impacts of seismic testing on fisheries and the marine environment."
Retired King island fisherman Robert Jordan said he saw what happened after the last seismic survey some years ago.
"I used to fish under the ledges out towards continental shelf and after the seismic survey went through there the ledge used to produce really well, then it dropped away to very minuscule to what it used to be.
"And it's taken years to recover. Now they want to do it all again."
Tasmanian Seafood Industry Council chief executive Julian Harrington said the group was concerned.
"We have significant concerns about the effects on fishing industry and with the unknown and inadequate science," he said.
"Our submission will highlight that back in 2010, the survey went through the central Bass Strait and all the science said it wouldn't harm scallops and the bed died off eight months later and now they say it's highly likely that the seismic could have been the cause.
"They pack up and are out of there before any impacts get on the scene."
What do you think? Send us a letter to the editor:
Leah McBey
As a southern New Zealander I love island life. So Tassie was an obvious choice after living in North America, Europe and the Pacific Islands. I've done a bit of everything but communication is the motif threading through my life.
As a southern New Zealander I love island life. So Tassie was an obvious choice after living in North America, Europe and the Pacific Islands. I've done a bit of everything but communication is the motif threading through my life.
